Time to Heal
by dancin' chicky18
Summary: Post New Moon. Bella is terrified of the cold... And for good reason. JacobxBella. Dark themes. Not for Edward Lovers.
1. Chapter 1

My, it has been a long time since I've submitted anything to Fanfiction... Oh well, better late than never I guess! Just a heads up that this story will have some rather dark themes (although you don't have to read very far to figure that out). Also keep in mind that I'm a frazzled University student whose major is certainly not English (yay for phys-ed students!) and whose schedule is INSANE. Therefore if I don't post for a while or if I have some minor grammar issues please do not bite my head off.

Oh and also, if you are a die-hard Edward lover and did not take the hint from the summary, please turn back now. It's for your own good.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Twilight series. Those belong to Stephanie Meyer. I also do not own Taylor Lautner which is very unfortunate.

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"Edward! Can you come help me for a sec?"

It was her only chance. That phantom oblivious voice coming from outside. Silently thanking Alice for the distraction, Bella didn't even dare to move until he left the room. Taking a final glance at her crumpled form in the corner, he did. Although not before giving her that look that said it all. _Try something, I dare you_.

As the door shut swiftly behind him she scrambled up too quickly to try to gather her clothes. The pain was like smacking into a brick wall. Infinitely worse than it was as the blows were being inflicted. Nevertheless she forced herself to keep moving, knowing that if she didn't, this would never end. She threw on the remnants of the skirt that she had arrived in and barely managed to pull on the zip up sweater. Anything else was a lost cause.

Grabbing her keys she crawled to the door and twisted the handle praying that the hinges wouldn't creak. She crossed the landing as quickly as she could but then made it to her real challenge: the stairs. Grasping the banister as firmly as she could, Bella pulled with all her might, ignoring the pain bursting through her ribs. Her legs trembled as she tried to make her way down the stairs as quietly as possible. Her desperate grip on the railing the only thing keeping her upright. Step down, step together, step down, step together, her legs moving in an almost mechanical manner. Suddenly the pain between her legs and the dizziness in her head became too much for her and she crumpled, taking the last few steps in a tumbling heap.

"Oh God," she whispered, knowing that any stealth that she had managed in her escape had now been ruined. A vampire five miles away would have heard the clamour she had just caused, let alone one just outside. She struggled to her feet, and though her right ankle would no longer bear any weight somehow managed to run to the door and get out.

She rushed to her truck fumbling with her keys to get the door to open. As she managed to drag herself inside she quickly turned around to make sure she had locked the doors. A futile gesture she knew. If he wanted to, he could simply rip the door right off its hinges. But it's a comfort nonetheless and she allowed her muscles to relax by the tiniest fraction because of it.

Starting her truck she looked over her shoulder to make sure that there were no blurs of pale skin rushing toward her. Satisfied, she steped on the pedal and urged her ancient Chevy to start rolling as fast as it could.

But where to? Surely not back to her house. Bella would never dare to unleash his wrath on Charlie. It was far too dangerous. That ruled out Angela's house as well. Besides, how could she even attempt to explain the marks that her injuries had left? There was no way that a fall could justify the damage this time. The hospital wouldn't be safe either. Exposing what he had done to her to all of Forks would only enrage him further.

That left only one place. La Push. She forced her arms to turn the antique wheel in the right direction then felt herself slip into autopilot. It was just as well. With the mixture of blood seeping from her forehead and the tears pooling in her eyes clouding her vision and the fog blurring her mind, it was doubtful that she could have driven very far safely. Country roads and very little traffic were a good thing she told herself. Anything to keep her mind off of what had just happened. What was still happening.

Bella was so lost in her reverie that it took her a moment to realize that her truck was slowing down. Pressing the gas pedal harder didn't seem to help at all. Scanning the dashboard frantically she managed to find the culprit. The gas meter was past empty. "No... no, please...no," she whimpered. She was only a few feet from the border. Her truck managed to roll just far enough to cross before it stopped.

She forced the door open then grasping the handle, fell out of the cab. It couldn't be too far to find help she promised herself. After all, she could already hear voices coming from the nearby reserve. She dragged herself to her feet, all parts of her body absolutely screaming in protest and took the first few steps. The adrenalin was starting to fade but she forced herself to keep going. _You're almost there_ she chanted to herself _you're almost safe_. Her right foot dragged uselessly, and she found she was holding her chest firmly with one arm, as if holding her ribs together.

Eventually, after about a mile or so, the strain became too much for her and she fell to her knees. She really was almost there. She could smell the pungent odour of a campfire and the voices had become much louder though her mind could no longer compute what they were saying let alone who they belonged too.

Just over the hill, she only needed to make it over the hill... then everything would be alright, she would finally allow herself to let go. Slowly she continued to crawl, placing one elbow in front of the other, dragging, her legs now almost useless. Once she finally managed to get to the top she misjudged the steepness of the other side. Her arms slipped in the dirt and she found herself falling, rolling end over end until she reached the bottom.

Bella's eyelids fluttered, but just before they closed she managed to make out the fire. A group of boys, no, men sitting around it. Laughter pouring from their mouths. _I'm safe_ was the last though she was able to get out before everything went black and she welcomed the oblivion.

So.. how'd you like it? I feel really bad leaving it like this so I'll try to have another chapter up later tonight. It'll be short though...


	2. Chapter 2

Okay so bad news is I lied about posting the next chapter later in the same night. Good news is that I'm posting it now and it's longer than I thought it would be. Thank you all so much for the kind reviews! Although I won't lie to you... you're giving me a bit of stage fright with your expectations being so high. Please try to keep in mind that I wrote this chapter at one in the morning with a pounding headache and though I tried fixing it now, a couple of the paragraphs still didn't come out quite the way I wanted them to. But, without further ado, here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: please see chapter 1

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It was a typical Saturday on the Quileute reservation. The pack was having their weekly fire and feast in the woods near Emily and Sam's quaint little cottage. The boys were up to their usual banter. It was... nice.

Sam sat on the edge of a worn down stump, contemplating their rag-tag assembly. Things had been quiet lately, despite the threat of the red headed vampire. Victoria, Bella had called her. Her scent had gone cold weeks ago and the disappearances in the woods had stopped all together. The pack was settling down and the younger boys were starting to become more like their old carefree selves again.

If it weren't for Jacob, Sam might have started to relax himself. The kid had been a mess ever since Bella had returned from Italy. As far as he knew (and he knew quite a bit from the connection that the pack shared) Jake hadn't seen nor spoken to Bella since her return. Sam had tried talking to him about it on a few different occasions but it had always just come across as awkward. Maybe it was the fact that Sam himself felt a little betrayed by Bella's easy conversion back to being "the Cullen's pet" as Paul had deemed her. Whatever it was, Sam needed to fix things between Bella and Jacob quickly. Jake's moods were having more of an influence on the pack dynamic than he would have liked, and if Sam didn't smooth things over soon, the peace that they were experiencing now certainly couldn't last.

_I'll try talking to him again when he gets back from patrol_ thought Sam as he tilted his head up to look at the sky. The sun was just beginning to set meaning that Jacob and Quil should be heading back in a couple of hours for their shift change. Just enough time for Sam to get his thoughts in order and prepare for what was sure to be another uncomfortable conversation.

"Exactly how many hotdogs are you going to eat Embry? Try and save some for the rest of us will you?" quipped Jared bringing Sam out of his reverie. He glanced over at Embry who had a hotdog jammed into each side of his mouth and was attempting to balance a third half-cooked sausage over the fire. It was times like these when Sam actually kind of enjoyed being the pack leader. When the boys were allowed to just be themselves. No need to control their emotions or worry about protecting the reservation. Just be teenagers worrying about how much food they could jam into their face at once.

"Slow down Embry. You're brothers will be hungry when they get back and they won't be too happy if there's no food left," Sam reminded him, though he couldn't stop the smirk from drawing up the corner of his lips.

"But I'm starving!" Embry protested. Or at least that's what Sam thought he was trying to say. It was remarkably hard to tell with so much food in the way. As he had opened his mouth to reply, chunks of half chewed hotdog and bread tumbled out of his mouth and dropped down onto his cut-off sweats. This elicited a chuckle from Sam and full on sniggering from Paul and Jared.

Just then a loud rustling followed by a resounding thud sounded from the hill 100 yards behind them causing Sam's hackles to rise automatically. He whipped around then froze in shock at the sight before him.

"Is that Bella?" Jared whispered. His voice filled with disbelief.

"Jared find Jacob, Paul get Emily, Embry give me your shirt and go find some blankets," Sam ordered, his instincts taking over as he took leadership of the situation. The three boys just continued to stare, shock written all over their faces, their bodies unable to move.

"Now!" Sam yelled, snapping them all back into action. Embry ripped off his shirt and tossed it to Sam as the three of them all sprinted off into their respective directions. Sam was already running towards Bella as he caught the shirt. He tried his best to assess her condition but there was simply too much blood, too many bruises. He decided that the majority of the blood was coming from a particularly nasty head wound as he knelt down beside her. As gently as he could, he lifted her head with one arm and used Embry's wadded up t-shirt with his other hand to try to staunch the flow of blood.

"Bella?" he muttered to her, "Bella can you hear me?" No response. Not even the flutter of an eyelid. Sam quickly bent his head over her mouth and nose to make sure that she was still breathing. He heard the shallow but steady flow of air and breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Bella you need to open your eyes for me," Sam continued, this time gently shaking her shoulder a little to coax her into consciousness. Slowly her eyelids began to open and a look of recognition flitted across her bloodied face.

"How bad is it?" he whispered to her, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Jake..." was all she managed, her voice barely audible even to his hypersensitive wolf ears. Then an inhuman sound of pain escaped her throat and her eyes began to roll into the back of her head.

"Stay with me Bella," Sam urged her. He could hear the others making their way back.

"Oh my God," he heard Emily's voice and then her quickening pace as she ran forward to try to help in any way possible. She knelt down across from Sam and laid the blankets that Embry had brought over Bella's limp body. Embry and Paul kept their distance, their stances uneasy as they waited for Jacob to arrive.

"What happened?" Emily questioned. Her face so filled with pain and concern that Sam just wanted to reach out and hold her.

"I don't know. She only regained consciousness for about a minute before she passed out again." Sam replied looking at the ground. Emily nodded then began whispering reassuring words into Bella's unhearing ear and tenderly stroking her cheek. Sam was just about to suggest moving her when he heard a gut wrenching howl in the woods just to his right followed by a cascade of rapid footfalls.

The look on Jacob's face as he entered the small clearing broke Sam's heart. It was so frightened and boyish, like it had been just before he changed. Jake's face crumpled as he fell to his knees beside Sam, his body trembling in anguish.

"Bella?!" He asked glancing up to the faces of Emily and Sam around him then quickly back to Bella's unmoving, emotionless one. "No... oh please God no..."

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There, chapter two is officially done. You probably won't find out exactly what happened between Bella and Edward for at least another chapter. Possibly two. Please review anyways!


	3. Chapter 3

Okay next Chapter. Just a warning that my updates won't be coming anywhere near as quickly after this. I was on fall break until now but it's time to go back to school and get ready for finals (Oh no...). Also I really only have the next chapter planned and then I don't really know where I'm going with this. I know what Edward did and why, but beyond that I'm up for suggestions. Also, just a heads up that after this chapter I'm changing the story rating to M. You'll figure out why towards the end of the chapter. And for further clarification, I don't hate Edward. I just felt like writing this story. But anyways, Happy Reading!

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"She's alive Jake but we need to get her inside," Sam said, his voice strong but soft at the same time. Carefully Sam slid the arm holding Embry's ruined t-shirt under Bella's knees. He hoisted her off of the ground making sure that her head rested securely on his shoulder. Slowly he began to make his way up to the house trying not to jostle her battered body too much.

Emily was the next to get up, hurrying back to the cottage to clear a space on the couch and gather her meagre amount of medical supplies. Jacob sat frozen on the ground unable to move. Disbelief was gripping his mind and he found he couldn't do anything but stare at the space that Bella's broken body had just inhabited.

After a moment he felt a strong hand on his shoulder and turned to see that it belonged to a grim looking Embry, Quil at his side.

"She'll be alright Jake. She's here now and she needs you. Come on," He said while sliding his hand under Jacob's arm and giving it a steady heave, "up you get." Jacob got up onto unsteady legs. His whole world a blur. How could this have happened? How could he not have known? He was extremely grateful to have Quil and Embry at his sides. His wingmen, they had always been there for him even before the change. He had a feeling that he would need them now more than ever.

As the three rounded the path to the house, Jake hurriedly wiped an arm across his face erasing any evidence of the tears that had begun to fall. He needed to be strong. For Bella.

Jared opened the door as they were coming up to the porch, ushering them inside. As they entered the small house they were greeted by an almost mad bustle as Emily shouted supplies and Paul and Sam hurried to get them.

"God she's freezing," Emily muttered as she brushed the back of her hand across Bella's cheek. Jacob saw this as an opportunity to be of some use and quickly slid himself in behind Bella on the couch, pulling her body into his lap and trying to expose her to as much of his body heat as he could.

"Paul I need some clean towels from the hall closet. Embry get me a bowl of warm water. Sam get me my sewing kit will you?" Emily continued. Jake was glad that someone was taking control of the situation. He wouldn't have even known where to start.

"What do you think happened?" Jacob heard Quil whisper as he passed a needle and some thread from Sam to the coffee table that Emily was working from.

"I don't know... we'll have to wait until she regains consciousness to find out," Sam's reply was just as quiet, as if he was afraid to panic anyone by talking too loud.

"Oh don't even kid yourselves, it was that leech lover of hers," Paul called from the hallway. Any attempt at discretion completely lost on him.

"Don't jump to conclusions Paul," Sam advised. A look of warning on his face.

"What do you mean don't jump to conclusions? She reeks so badly of bloodsucker it's giving me a headache. Why she keeps going back to those monsters is completely beyond me..." Paul began to rant.

As Emily looked up from her work she noticed that Jacob's hands were beginning to tremble and a crease was firmly implanting itself between his eyebrows. "Paul." She breathed.

"What?" He was completely oblivious situation.

"Get out. All of you get outside. Now," Emily hissed. Paul gave her an odd look but then, seeing Jacob out of the corner of his eye, her meaning finally dawned on him and he turned to the front door, the others right behind him.

Emily gently placed her hand on Jacob's shaking forearm. "You need to calm down Jacob. Otherwise I'll have to kick you out too," she said, this time in a much softer voice. Once his tremors had subsided to her satisfaction she added "Hold this towel to her head and keep some pressure on that cut while I try to clean her up a little bit."

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"Well now that the elephant's out of the bag... what are we going to do about it?"Quil asked with just a little bit too much excitement in his voice. "I say we take them."

"Hold on, we don't even know for sure that it was him. It could have been someone else" Embry replied.

"Of course it was him!" Paul snarled back. "Did you see those bruises around her neck? They weren't caused by human hands. And why else would she even come here? I don't know if you've noticed but she hasn't exactly been prancing around the reservation since _they_ came back."

Sam was pacing the small porch like a caged animal. Decisions needed to be made. He couldn't think of a single choice that would end well though. The banter from the pack wasn't exactly helping to clear his mind either.

"So what if it was him? They still haven't broken the treaty. She wasn't bitten," Embry continued, attempting to be the voice of reason for once.

"Didn't break the treaty my ass! They harmed a human. Probably without provocation. That's stomping on the treaty enough for me," Paul growled.

"Stop it Paul. Embry's got a point. We can't exactly go around and kill every man who hits his girlfriend or abuses his wife, now can we? The treaty still stands" Jared added.

"But what about Bella? Where's the justice for her? He beat her to a bloody pulp and we're just going to let it go?" Quil asked.

Sam finally stopped pacing and turned to face the pack, his hand's squeezing the porch railing. "Stop it. All of you." The command of the Alpha was present in his voice. "Nobody is letting anything go." At the look on Paul and Quil's faces he was quick to add "but we are not about to go looking for a fight either. Jared and Embry are right, the treaty still stands. I honestly don't believe that the whole Coven was in on this, and starting a war right now is definitely not in the tribe's best interest.

"We need more information before we do anything, and when it comes down to it, it'll be Jacob's decision whether we deal with the leech or not. Right now the protection of Bella and the tribe are our first priority. Justice will come later. I'm meeting with the Cullens' leader tomorrow about the red headed blood sucker situation. I'll see if he even knows what happened then." Sam finished.

"What about Bella?" Embry asked, his voice quiet, his gaze fixed on the ground as he scratched at the dirt with his shoe. "You can't send her home. It's not safe."

"She'll be staying with me and Emily. I suppose that Jacob can to. I'll think of some kind of excuse for Charlie so that he'll let her stay here at least until she's healed up. We should try to bring him to La Push as much as possible as well. If Cullen really is the one responsible for all of this, Charlie's in danger too." As he was finishing, the door opened up behind him and Emily stepped out onto the porch.

"Sam, can I talk to you?" She asked, her hand still poised on the door handle.

"Of course," He replied, his tone automatically becoming much gentler as he spoke to his fiancé.

He watched her eyes dart quickly to his pack and then back to him before she added "Alone."

Sam nodded then sighed. "Jared and Quil do a sweep of the perimeter and make sure that everything is in order. Paul and Embry gather the elders. All of you report back to me as soon as you're finished. Understood?" As his brothers nodded he turned and followed Emily back into the house.

As they walked past the tiny living room Sam glimpsed Jacob slumped forward on the couch. He was still clutching Bella in his lap though she was now covered in blankets and had a large white bandage peeking out from her hairline. The look on Jacob's face was one of horror mixed with defeat. Sam quickly turned away feeling that he was seeing something he shouldn't. That he didn't want to.

He followed Emily into their bedroom and she silently closed the door behind them.

Getting right down to business she looked up into his eyes and said "She needs a real doctor."

"Emily you know we can't afford for this to get out. Plus it won't be safe for Bella to leave the reserve. Not yet at least."

"Then bring someone here."

Sam just stared at her blankly.

"I heard you talking to the boys. You're meeting with Carlisle tomorrow. Do it here. At our house."

"Emily you know that's in complete violation of the treaty. I could never allow it." Sam replied in disbelief.

"What's more important to you Sam? A treaty created a century ago? Or Bella's life? Because that's what it's come down to. Contrary to what you seem to believe I'm not a miracle worker. Did you see the color of her skin or the amount of blood that was coming from that scalp wound? She needs a blood transfusion. Not to mention her ribs which I'm sure are broken or her ankle which has swelled to the size of her thigh. I don't have the resources to deal with this, let alone knowledge or training. So choose."

Sam sighed, caving to her wishes. He never could deny Emily of anything. Not since the moment he first laid eyes on her. "Fine. I'll talk to him. But I can't see him being willing to walk into our territory without back up. Especially if I can't give him the reason he has to do it. He can't know that it's Bella he's coming to see. It could set Edward off and put people in danger."

"So lie to him. Tell him Jared got shot while he was on patrol and needs blood. I don't care how you do it, just convince him. I know you can't stand to see Jacob the way he is now. How do you think it's going to be if she dies?" Sam could tell that Emily wasn't just talking about Jacob. She was talking about all of them. Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes and she dropped her gaze down to the floor. The evening was beginning to take its toll on Emily and Sam wished he could just wipe all of her pain and worries away. Tenderly he took her into his arms and kissed the top of her head.

"I'll do my best," he promised her, "but there isn't much that I can do until morning. You'll have to keep her alive until then."

"I can do that," she whispered. She sank back onto the bed as he turned to go make some phone calls.

Sam was walking towards the door when he paused and looked back to see that Emily had completely caved in on herself thinking that he had already left. Something was wrong. Something beyond what they had already talked about.

He walked back to her and squatted down so that he could meet her eyes. He took both of her hands in one of his oversized palms and used the other to cradle her cheek, wiping away the single tear that had escaped her eye.

"What haven't you told me Emily?" his voice so soft it was like a blanket giving her comfort and warmth.

"Oh Sam," she stammered, more tears leaking from her half-closed eyelids, "I think... I think he raped her." She couldn't bear to look at him as she said it. It was too painful.

Sam's eyes grew wide and he unconsciously took a step back. "But he... he's a... how could he?... Bella?"

"I know," Emily whispered.

For the first time that evening Sam felt all of the strength drain out of him. He collapsed onto the bed beside his lover sagging into her and relying on her for support.

"Does Jake know?" his voice sounded so small. He wondered where it all had gone wrong. Just hours ago they had been sitting around the fire, up to their old antics. And now this.

"No," she replied, her gaze fixed on the floor, "he's been really out of it since you left."

"I'll talk to him. Go take care of Bella." He sighed standing up and walking back to the door.

"Sam?" this time she was the one that stopped him. His hand already outstretched towards the doorknob.

"I love you." She whispered. He nodded and then left wondering what in the world he was going to say.

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There, I made this chapter really long (for my writing style) just for you guys. Don't know when my next update will be so review!


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! So before you all start complaining, I know that this chapter is short. Keep in mind that it is finals right now and instead of studying for my anatomy exam like a good little girl, I'm writing this for you. If you're super lucky I might be able to squeeze in another update at the end of this week but please don't get your hopes up.

On to more important things, you may have noticed that this story is still rated T and not M like I told you it would be. I think I'm going to keep it T for at least a few more chapters, but along with that, I received a few reviews/messages talking about the "Edward chapter" where you lovelies all get to find out what actually happened between Bella and Edward. Problem is... I never really intended to write that chapter. I just didn't feel like that actual scene really fit in with the story. But, before you get all angry, I am willing to write that chapter as a separate story which I can release when I feel the time is appropriate. Keep in mind that whether or not I actually write this "chapter" you will still find out the jist of what happened in a conversation between Jake and Bells instead of the actual real time scene.

Anyways, enough with my rambling, without further adieu, here's the next chapter!

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The bedroom door opened to reveal Sam coming out with his head bowed. Emily soon followed behind him, hurriedly wiping something off of her scarred cheek.

"Sam could you bring Bella to the tub please? I want to try to clean her up some more." Emily said as she turned quickly into the nearby bathroom.

Before Jake knew it, Sam was lifting Bella easily out of his lap. Jake scrambled up to follow but Sam shook his head. "At least give her this much dignity Jake." Sam's voice was barely a whisper as left the room with gentle strides. Jake found himself sinking back onto the worn out couch. He couldn't believe that any of this was really happening. That what he had seen had been real.

Sam stumbled back out into the living room, all grace that he had possessed as he was carrying Bella completely gone. Glancing at Jake he ran a shaking hand through his hair then abruptly looked at the ground and began to pace. He walked the length of the room several times before pausing. "Jake..." he started, but faltered, unable to go on. He began to pace again reminding Jacob of a caged animal.

Jake wanted to scream. Sam's constant motion was driving him mental. He wished that Sam would just stop and spit out whatever it was that he wanted to say before he snapped. But Jake knew that no matter how much he felt like shouting or lashing out, he wouldn't. All of the energy, the strength, that he had possessed had been sucked out of him the moment that he saw Bella's broken body splayed out on the forest floor. All he could manage was to grind his jaw and continue to stare straight ahead, unmoving.

Finally, Sam stopped once again and turned to face Jacob, his eyes fixed firmly on the floor. "Jake, I... God I can't do this." He managed before he fell back into a chair, his head in his hands.

The silence in the room was so heavy it was almost like a visible fog, shrouding the room with an ominous quality. The quiet was only broken by the periodic tone of the antique clock on the wall and the occasional splash or moan coming from the nearby washroom.

When Sam finally spoke again his voice was filled with pain. Jacob could no longer hear any trace of the alpha in his voice. This was the real Sam. The Sam that had been forced to grow up too quickly with far too much responsibility forced upon him. Emily's Sam.

"Jacob, I wish I could... I can't tell you but..." He paused collecting himself, "Jake when Bella wakes up she's going to need you. More than you could ever imagine. You need to be there for her and be strong, but don't... you can't push her. She'll talk eventually and when she does I know you'll be there for her. Just don't force her to say or do anything."

At the confused look on Jacob's face Sam sighed. "God Jacob I wish I was strong enough to explain. Maybe Emily..." The thoughtful look in his eyes quickly disappeared and he shook his head.

The uncomfortable silence made its way back into the room and the two of them continued to sit, staring off into space.

"Sam," Emily called after what felt like an eternity. Sam leapt out of his chair as if he simply couldn't stand being there any longer. He scrambled to the washroom door and ripped it open leaving Jake in the living room alone.

"Emily are you sure?" he heard Sam's timid voice coming from down the hall.

"She's still drifting in and out of consciousness but..." The rest of Emily's reply was muffled by the closing of the door, but Jake knew that whatever she had been about to say, it was in the affirmative. The unspeakable horrors that had so tortured Sam were true.

What was it that Sam had been unable to tell him? The question taunted Jacob, begging to be answered with the words just out of reach. It was obvious that her bloodsucker had done this to her, so Sam couldn't possibly be trying to hide that fact from him. It was so obvious to him in fact, that it was painful. He had sworn that he would never cause Bella any pain, and yet he had let her go back to the leech, knowing full well the dangers that awaited her. It didn't matter that he hadn't directly caused any of it. He had still betrayed her trust, his trust in himself. He needed to right the wrong that he had inadvertently caused and bring that filthy monster that she had called her lover to justice.

But it would have to wait. Leaving Bella now when she needed him most would only cause more suffering. His thoughts turned back to Bella. How fragile she had looked in that tangled heap on the forest floor, how her skin was so pale it was translucent as she lay wrapped in his arms on the couch. He still couldn't understand how things had gotten so bad so quickly.

"Jacob," He turned and realised that in his despondent state he hadn't noticed that everyone had moved to the bedroom. He rose quickly and joined them, coming to a stop in the small doorway.

"Jake, I'm leaving soon to meet with the elders, after that I'll be running patrol. Paul and Embry are taking extra shifts tonight and staying near the house. If anything at all changes, do not hesitate to contact them." Sam was definitely back in Alpha mode. His orders brought the familiar strength back to his voice as he continued, "You and Bella will be staying in the master bedroom tonight. I'll tell Billy at the meeting."

Jake shot a questioning look at Emily and she gave him a small smile as she replied "I can sleep on the couch for one night Jacob. I really don't mind. We'll set up the guest room tomorrow."

Sam nodded in confirmation then made to leave. Jacob stepped aside to get out of his way and found himself directly in front of Emily. She looked up at Jake and lightly placed her hand on his cheek. "Take care of her Jacob, I'm right outside if you need me," she whispered, and then left the room closing the door softly behind her.

Jacob approached the bed, but seeing Bella's tiny body so motionless under the quilt he thought better of it and took a step back then turned to sit in a chair placed in the corner of the room. He had never really gotten a chance to grasp her condition until now.

The sweater that Emily had leant her hung limply over her frame. She had grown thin, even more so than last fall when _he_ had left. The bruises encircling her neck were almost black and starkly contrasted the sickly transparency of the rest of her skin. Now that he was really looking, he noticed other bruises. They were more faint, but also more abundant. One discolouring her cheek, another on her forearm peeking out from under the sweater. Jacob was nauseated that he knew with utter certainty that he would find more.

He quickly turned his head and flicked off the light, unable to bear looking at the damage any longer. He was soon forced to look back however as the sound of chattering teeth filled his head. He hurried over to the bed knowing that the intense shutters wracking Bella's body could not be good for whatever injury to her ribs he had glimpsed earlier as he helped Emily.

Gingerly, He pulled back the blankets and wrapped himself around Bella's shivering form. The feel of their connecting flesh was like ice biting into his skin and he held her tighter to his chest, burying his face in her hair.

A small moan escaped Bella's lips, which Jake now noticed were just as bruised as the rest of her. As her shudders began to subside, Jacob felt his own muscles relaxing, and tears that he had not felt welling up began to sear their way down his cheeks. Nuzzling his face further into her hair he whispered _"Oh Bells, I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry..."_

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Okay so now that I've gotten out my Jacob angst... please review! And don't forget to tell me whether or not you want that Edward and Bella story!


	5. Chapter 5

Okay so the story with this chapter... I tried really hard to get it finished so that I could post it last week (pretty much a week ago today actually) but then I ran into a small road block: I discovered that I really don't like writing Carlisle. It's super awkward for me. So this really isn't going to be the best chapter I've written. I tried... really I did. Just don't be surprised if you don't see a lot of Carlisle in chapters to come. Also keep in mind that I'm a kines student, not a pre med student, so if the medical descriptions aren't up to snuff don't hate me!

As a final note, the rating for the next chapter onwards definitely will be switched to M, so if you suddenly have problems finding it in a week or so that would be why. Thank you all so much for the kind reviews, finals have been going surprisingly smoothly (I still have 1 left) and I appreciate your sympathy =).

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"If you don't mind Sam, I'd like to check on Jared before we get down to business," a melodic voice danced its way into Jacob's sleepy mind.

"Of course, just give us a moment. Emily's going in to wake him now," Sam's reply brought him closer to consciousness but also into confusion. What was wrong with Jared? Did something happen during patrol last night?

Jacob yawned then stretched out his cramping legs. His heel brushed something cool and he opened his groggy eyes to see a rat's nest of soft brown curls only inches away from his nose. _Bella_ he remembered then sighed. So it hadn't been just a dream.

The bedroom door opened and closed quietly as Emily slipped into the room. "Oh good, you're awake," she grinned softly, but her smile didn't reach her eyes, betraying her uneasiness. "You'd better get up Jacob. Sam's here with Doctor—"

Emily's words were cut off as the bedroom door opened and Jacob was assaulted by a sickly sweet scent that burned his nostrils. He sprang from the bed landing in a defensive pose, his arms beginning to quiver. "What the _hell_ is he doing here?" Jacob growled through his bared teeth.

"Easy Jake. He's here to help," Sam stated, the warning clear in his voice. He stepped out of the doorframe to reveal a shocked looking Carlisle Cullen in the hall behind him.

"Bella?" Carlisle whispered before sweeping into the room and picking up Bella's frail wrist. He turned to Sam questioningly, "What happened to her?"

"We don't know," Sam said looking down at his feet. Carlisle replaced Bella's arm on the sheet and reached out to examine the stitches on her forehead. Jake tensed at the movement and allowed a low growl to rip from his throat.

Emily shot him a look then turned to help Dr Cullen. "I think most of the blood loss was from the scalp wound. The bleeding stopped after I cleaned it out and stitched it up. Regardless, she hasn't regained full consciousness since we found her last night. Other than that, from what I can tell, most of the damage is to her throat, ribs and right ankle."

Jacob didn't miss the meaningful look that Sam gave Emily as she finished, nor the subtle shake of the head that she answered with in return. He was curious as to what it meant, but did not voice his concern. His primary focus was on the bloodsucker. Cullen's close proximity was extremely unnerving, and Jake had to use every ounce of self restraint he possessed not to phase right there.

"Sam there's a portable IV in my bag, could you set it up for me please? I brought O negative blood because I wasn't sure of Jared's type. There never was a shooting I suppose?" Carlisle paused long enough to see Sam nod in confirmation, then sighed. "I really wish you would have told me the truth and given me an idea as to the extent of her injuries beforehand. I could have come much better prepared."

He turned back to the bed and began to examine Bella's wounds, his hands fluttering so fast that they were hard for Jake to follow. "No signs of pneumothorax... severe damage to the anterior talofibular ligament..." His mumbled medical jargon was giving Jake a headache.

Finally Dr Cullen took a step back, apparently satisfied with his assessment and turned to address the others. "The scalp wound doesn't look to be too serious. Head wounds tend to bleed a lot regardless of their severity; nevertheless I wouldn't be surprised if she suffered a moderate concussion. There appears to be some damage to her larynx, so she'll probably have some difficulty speaking when she wakes up. As for her ribs and ankle, I wish that I could have run x-rays to better assess the damage. Without them I can only assume that she has several cracked ribs, but because her breathing is normal, I don't think any of them were broken completely. It seems that she has torn some of the ligaments in her ankle, which will prevent her from walking anytime soon. I'd like to come back to run some further tests in a couple of days and bring some more medical supplies," he turned to face Sam directly, "You said you have no idea what happened?" he asked sceptically.

Silence.

Jacob snarled then stepped closer to the bed. "I'm sick of this. He knows exactly what happened!"

"Jacob," Emily warned. She shook her head, silently pleading with him to let it go.

"NO!" he barked, "he knows, it was his own goddamned bloodsucker son that did it!"

"Edward?" Carlisle whispered. His face clouded with disbelief. "I hadn't thought..." A look of realization cleared his features and he looked up at Sam then began to explain," Alice's visions have been... unreliable lately. When we decided to go on a family hunting trip last weekend and Edward elected not to come, I thought nothing of it. He often preferred to spend some time with Bella while we were gone, especially with us unable to see her future. When we returned yesterday I thought I smelled blood but Edward explained that Bella had slipped and hit her head on his night stand. With her clumsiness, such occurrences are not uncommon so I again rationalized his behaviour. I see now that I was wrong...

"Since Edward returned from Italy, he has been quite... different. You have to understand that he thought that he lost everything when he left. Getting it all back made him possessive. He began to become very controlling. I never would have dreamed that he'd become abusive. If I had known that things had progressed this far you have to believe that I would have interceded."

Sam nodded as Jacob growled. "Carlisle, it may seem like an odd request, but I have to ask you not to act on what you've just ascertained." Sam urged. Jacob looked at him, confused. "We don't know the danger that Edward poses to the community and we don't know what, if anything, will set him off. For the time being, at least until we can speak to Bella, I request that you don't acknowledge that you know anything about Bella's condition to Edward. For all we know right now, this really could just be a huge misunderstanding," as he finished, his voice was filled with false hope that didn't even register on his face.

Carlisle sighed. "I agree. But with my son's... abilities, it may be difficult to keep my knowledge from him for long. Nevertheless, you have my word Sam that I will do everything in my power to keep Bella and everyone else safe. If anything changes you will be the first person I call. As for now, I really must be on my way. I'll wrap up Bella's ribs and ankle and get her started on some painkillers, and then I have to leave." He reached down to lift the hem of Bella's sweater and Jake couldn't stand it any longer. His whole body tensed as his arms shook and a low growl vibrated through his chest.

"Jacob that's enough! Leave." Sam finally snapped then turned to assist the doctor in any way that he could.

Jake slowly stalked out of the room, not because he wanted to, but because he knew it would be safer for Bella without the threat of him phasing in the middle of the bedroom. If the leech tried to pull anything Sam could handle it. Besides, he would be right outside the door.

He closed the door behind him trying to block out the awful stench coming from the next room, but it was of little use. The leech had walked through the hallway too and the scent still hung heavily in the air. He leaned his head back against the wall and took deep breaths through his mouth. He concentrated on relaxing each muscle individually, slowly purging the tension from his body. He knew that Carlisle was only trying to be helpful but it still tormented him to have his enemy so close.

Once he had calmed himself to his own satisfaction he reached for the doorknob. Opening the door, he saw Carlisle standing beside the bed with his hand resting gently on Bella's soft curls. The look on his face was almost paternal and Jacob looked away quickly in order to keep his cool.

Noticing Jacob's reappearance, Carlisle withdrew his hand and his expression hardened. He started towards the door. "I'll be back within a couple of days to check on Bella. We can discuss matters further then." he said just before he crossed the threshold.

"Thank you," Jacob whispered, still looking away.

Carlisle paused, his face softening. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but stopped himself, thinking better of it and continued out the door.

As soon as he left, Jacob walked to the bed and knelt at its side, taking Bella's tiny hand into both of his own and rubbing it tenderly. He felt a hand rest lightly upon his shoulder and looked up to see Emily's worried gaze trained on him. She squeezed his arm gently, and he was grateful for her presence.

"Jacob," Sam sighed, breaking the silence. "I asked Carlisle here because we needed—"

"I know," Jake interrupted him "I'm sorry." He knew that the way he'd behaved in Carlisle's presence had been completely unacceptable. He just couldn't help himself.

He turned to meet Sam's eyes when he heard a low moan followed by a gasp coming from the bed beside him. He whipped back around quickly and saw that Bella's eyelids were fluttering weakly, struggling to fight their way open.

"Bella?" Jacob whispered. He brought one of his hands up to brush some stray hair out of her face.

Her eyes gave a final blink then opened, meandering lazily around the room. "Jake?" she murmured when her gaze finally found his. Her voice was barely audible even for his werewolf hearing. He nodded in encouragement and squeezed her hand, reassuring her that he was there.

Her eyes wandered the room once more and her delicate brow wrinkled in confusion. "Charlie?" she croaked.

Sam stepped up to the bed, resting his hand protectively on her blanket covered knee. "It's okay Bella. Charlie thinks that you're on a camping trip with the rest of the pack. Emily needed help with the cooking." He added, aiming a small smirk at his fiancé, "he isn't too worried."

Bella's lips pulled down into a frown and the creases in her forehead deepened. "Charlie," she whispered again, shaking her head frantically, then wincing from the impulsive movement.

Jacob understood her meaning at once and quickly began to reassure her. "Shh Bells. Charlie's here on the Res fishing with Billy. He's safe."

Bella opened her mouth to speak again but instead ended up coughing weakly. Her wince deepened into a grimace of pain and Jake began to stroke the side of her face anxiously. Bella looked at him once again and managed to whisper "cold..." before her eyelids started to flutter closed once again. Jake looked up at Sam and Emily worriedly.

"It's okay Jacob, Dr Cullen said that the medication that he gave her would make her drowsy. Let her rest." Emily reassured him.

Jake nodded and made to stand up. The second his touch left Bella though, she began to stir restlessly, and mutter incoherently in her drugged haze. Jacob glanced once more at Sam before he slipped under the covers and wrapped himself protectively around Bella's small frame. She calmed down almost immediately and her breathing slowed until it better resembled that of regular sleep.

Emily reached around them good-naturedly and fluffed the pillows then took Sam's hand and left the room.

"Jacob..." Bella sighed then snuggled in closer to his warmth. He turned his head, placing a soft kiss just above her brow, then relaxed back into the pillows, making sure to keep her close.

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Again I'm sorry! The next couple of chapters will be much better I promise! We'll get some action and things will start to move a lot quicker. Thanks for sticking with me! Please be kind and review.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey y'all! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and didn't go too crazy on New Years! Haha... who am I kidding? Anyways, I'm finally updating. This chapter was originally going to be longer but I felt bad for not writing anything for you in so long and so here it is. School has started back up again and therefore my updates will probably be very sporadic for the next few months. Which is unfortunate because I'm really excited for the next couple of chapters. Sorry guys. I hope that this is good enough to tide you over for at least a little while.

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_Flashes of light burst across her vision._

_Bright marble flesh moved in a constant rhythm above her making her dizzy. She longed to close her eyes, but couldn't, clinging to her senses as if by holding them fast she was clinging to life itself._

_Each time her head ground further into the nightstand, a fresh kaleidoscope of colors exploded across her vision. The throbbing in her head erupting with each beat of her pulse._

_She was being smothered. His stone-like body pounding the breath from her lungs with each thrust. She thought she heard a crack and cried out for what felt like the millionth time as fresh pain blossomed across her torso._

_The screams wouldn't stop, tearing painfully from her throat until she was hoarse, and then ripping out some more._

_She knew that there was no way that she could take much more of this. Her entire body felt as if it were being impossibly ripped in two and crushed at the same time. She looked up pleadingly through tear clouded eyes to see that his once golden orbs had become a relentless sea of ebony._

_Through the constant assault on her senses she finally became aware of his melodic voice, mocking her, as if the physical pain were not enough punishment. "Tell me Bella, do you scream for that _dog_ too?"_

"Bella you need to wake up!" a voice pleaded above the ungodly shrieks filling her ears. She slowly pried herself away from the nightmares that haunted her unconsciousness and managed to blink her eyes open. As she found the soft chocolate gaze coming from a very concerned Jacob sitting on the bed only inches away from her, she allowed herself to relax. Her deafening cries fading into soft sobs.

"It's okay Bells, it's just me," Jacob whispered soothingly. He brushed his calloused thumb across her cheek erasing the tears that stained her pale flesh. Once he was satisfied that she had sufficiently calmed down he removed his hand from her face, ignoring the small whimper she elicited at the loss of his touch, and instead moved it to grasp her small hand within his own.

He sighed looking down for a moment, then met her eyes "Bella, we need to talk about this."

Her eyes grew wide for a second before she hurriedly shook her head.

"Bella please, this is eating you up inside, and I can't take seeing you like this much longer—"

"I need to go take a shower" she cut him off suddenly.

"What?" He asked, bewildered at the sudden change of subject.

"Please just... let me take a shower," she begged, a fresh round of tears filling her eyes.

Jacob looked her over confused, but nodded, taking her other hand and gently raising her into a sitting position. He paused allowing her to catch her breath before he slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed and helped her to stand up. Dr Cullen had brought a walking cast with him on his last visit but advised them that she should keep as much weight off of her healing ankle as possible. So as Bella tried to keep her balance, she leaned heavily into Jacob as they made their way down the hall into the bathroom.

As they reached their destination, Jacob turned to help her out of her borrowed pyjamas and she flinched away, wincing at her own sudden movement.

"It's okay Jake, I can do this on my own," She told him and hobbled back a step quickly before he could protest.

He glanced at her worriedly before nodding once again and backing up towards the door, "I'll be right outside."

She waited for the door to shut quietly behind him before attempting to undress herself. Usually Emily was home to help her out, but today she had gone out to run a few errands with Sam and wouldn't be back until the early evening. There was no way that Bella could wait that long.

Gingerly she raised her arms above her head, tugging off her shirt in small intervals. She hissed as the hem caught on the stitches on her forehead and almost cried out as she managed to pull it free. Next came the shorts. She was able to slide them down her legs without much difficulty, but struggled to remain standing while negotiating the fabric around the cast that covered the lower half of her leg. She nearly called out to Jacob for help as her efforts to keep her balance increased the throbbing in her ribcage, but steeled herself. She couldn't let Jacob see her like this; it was too much for her. Especially seeing the pain in his eyes every time she recoiled away from his touch. No, she would have to do this on her own.

When she finally managed, she stood, focusing on her battered body in the Uley's mirror. The bruises had begun to fade in the week since she had arrived in La Push, but the memories of how they came to be were still freshly engraved upon her memory. Her mind flashed back to the nightmare that she had just awoken from and the actual events that it had been a recollection of. She traced her hand slowly down her body taking in the rough feel of the bandages that covered her torso and allowed her fingers to stop on her hip, where the edge of her underwear began. She couldn't bring herself to take them off. She didn't want to think about the damage that they didn't properly conceal, or the way that he had defiled her. Even now, looking in the mirror brought a fresh wave of images of all that had happened, until squeezing her eyes tightly closed she turned away and limped into the shower.

Bella turned the dial all the way until steaming water poured down, searing her skin. The droplets mixed with the salty tears that were once again flowing from her eyes and obscured her vision. Finding Emily's rough, old loofah she began to scrub mercilessly at her exposed flesh, trying desperately to scour the memories away with the skin.

The nightmares were always worse on the nights that Jacob was on patrol. Without his warm flesh encasing her frame, the cool sheets would begin to bring everything back, suffocating her in their tangled snare. Jake would always be there by the time that she woke up to coax her out of her unconscious remembrance, but by then it was always already too late. Once the flood had started, it was impossible to hold back.

Bella hadn't noticed the water cooling as she continued to reminisce about that fateful night. As the first bitingly cold droplets assaulted her skin she screamed. _Visions of frozen marble bombarding her as she lay helpless on the ground. The feel of the uneven floorboards scraping across the skin of her back_. She stumbled away from the cruel icy stream until her back collided with the wall of the shower and the sunk down curling herself into the fetal position.

"Bella are you okay in there?" She heard Jacob's shout muffled by the door and the pounding water. She couldn't reply. She was shivering so hard that her teeth chattered. Jacob's fist pounded against the door. She tried to shy further away from the cold to no avail. Jacob's knocks became more frantic.

"Bella if you don't answer me in five seconds I'm coming in!" Jake's next yell was followed by a very short silence before he burst into the room and wrenched open the shower door. Taking in her huddled form in the corner of the tiny space he stepped under the flow of water and knelt in front of her, lightly touching her hair.

At the sudden absence of chilly mist spraying her form, Bella looked up from her knees seeing the half-naked russet form of her protector through her terrified eyes. She took a few deep breaths, relishing in the warmth that flooded through her from his feverish hand. "I'm okay," she whispered calmly, wanting to erase the worried look from his eyes.

"Bel—" he started, then stopped himself. He reached up to turn off the water then quickly grabbed a fluffy towel through the still open door. He swaddled her in the soft fabric and picked her up easily manoeuvring her out of the bathroom and back into the spare room where they had both been staying for the past week.

Tenderly he placed her down on the bed and began to gently dry her dampened flesh. "Bella... your skin is so raw it bleeding in places. What happened?"

Alarmed she looked down at herself. Sure enough, flecks of red marred the pale skin of her arms and legs. "I guess I must have gotten a little carried away," she mumbled, refusing to meet his gaze.

He sighed, but didn't push her any further, his conversation with Sam still fresh on his mind. He finished with the towel then headed to the closet changing quickly out of his soaking wet shorts into a fresh pair of cut-offs and a t-shirt. He turned to face Bella who was still sprawled on the bed, apparently examining a small stain on the sheets. "We should get you dressed. Billy should be here soon. He's coming for a visit."

Bella looked up sharply. "What about Charlie?" she asked apprehensively.

"He's spending the day at Sue's. You don't need to worry so much Bells, we're taking care of him," he replied coming to sit beside her with a fuzzy turtleneck and loose fitting slacks in his hands. He knew that she hated having her bruises and other injuries show if there was anyone other than Sam and Emily there with them. After they managed to slip her into her clothes while inflicting as little pain as possible, Bella adjusted the collar of her sweater so that it better hid the hand shaped bruises still encircling her neck, plastered a fake smile on her face, and pronounced herself ready to go.

Bella sat unmoving at the kitchen table while Jacob busied himself making tea for her still tender throat and toast as was the basic extent of his cooking abilities. An awkward silence formed a heavy wall between them; unspoken words making them both uncomfortable.

Just as Jacob was setting a steaming cup on the table a light tap on the door broke the tension in the room. Embry stood in the doorway holding Billy's wheelchair causing a genuine smile to grace Bella's features.

"Bella," he grinned wheeling himself across the room to wrap Bella into a warm Black-family hug.

"Careful Dad," Jacob warned, but he was smiling as well, enjoying the first light he'd seen in Bella's eyes in days.

Conversation between the three of them became easy as soon as Billy's sunny personality was added into the mix. Bella even noticed that some of the rigidity had been released from Jake's form from knowing that Embry was patrolling so close to the house. They chatted about Charlie and the inane fishing adventures that the two had gotten themselves into over the last couple of days. Jacob updated Billy on the pack and the skirmishes that Paul had narrowly avoided with the other wolves. Not once was Bella's attack mentioned and she was deeply grateful. It allowed her to forget, even if it was just for a short time.

In such a light atmosphere, time seemed to pass much more quickly and before they knew it, it was time for Billy to go home and prepare for the "big game". Jake got up, promising that he would be back before they knew it and ran off to fetch Embry. Bella and Billy sat in a comfortable silence, amiably staring into their empty cups.

"He really cares about you," Billy finally spoke, startling Bella out of her reverie. She looked up to see his intense gaze focused upon her.

"He's a good kid. Loyal as they come. And I swear to you that he would never do anything to hurt you." Billy continued softly, "I know that what you went through must have been more horrible than I can ever imagine and I also know that you can't get through this on your own. You can trust him Bella. He'll be there."

As he finished, the door opened to reveal two russet bodies and Billy's expression immediately changed back its usual easygoing grin.

"Time to get you out of here gramps," Embry jabbed playfully as he crossed the threshold to grasp the wheelchair handles.

"See you around Bella," Billy grasped her hand firmly before he was wheeled away. "I'll try my best to keep Charlie in line," he hollered over his shoulder, "no promises on the cooking though!" he added as a second thought.

Jacob smirked and rolled his eyes but he could tell that her replying grin was forced. Sighing, he helped her out of her chair and assisted her in hobbling into the living room. He laid her down on the couch and rested her head in his lap. This had become a tradition of sorts for them over the past few days. Though she was initially uncomfortable with the close contact she always eventually relaxed into his embrace.

Today her mind wandered as she felt Jake's rough fingers absentmindedly stroke her hair. She wanted so badly to relieve some of her burden. She knew that Emily at least suspected what had gone on between her and Edward by the looks that Sam's fiancé had given her from time to time. But she was uneasy revealing her secrets to the girl, not wanting to inconvenience her gracious hostess even more than she already had.

Her thoughts continued to drift and soon flashes of the last week began to sneak their way in, haunting her to the core. She needed to release the images from her head before she imploded. _Trust him, _Billy's words were suddenly back and she twisted to look into the worried, pensive chocolate eyes above her.

"Jake..." she whispered, still unsure of whether she wanted to continue.

"Mmm," he mumbled, his eyes suddenly coming to a focus on her face.

"I... I'm ready to talk."

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Ooo Cliffy ... of sorts... Sorry! I'm starting to really empathize with Bella seeing as I busted my knee yesterday and walking really sucks. Damn Canadian winters! Anyway, thank you to all of my faithful reviewers (seeing as I forgot to do it at the top) you definitely made me feel better about the last chapter. I hope that you enjoyed this one as well!

P.s.: Reviewing actually guilts me into writing another chapter faster because I feel like I'm letting you guys down if I don't update. Just a hint ;)


	7. Chapter 7

Look! It's a new chapter! Aren't you proud? Just kidding. I could give you a very long list of reasons on why it's taken me so long to update but I figure you don't want to hear it haha. Anyways, you'd be pretty safe to expect the next chapter sometime during reading week. I've been pretty excited to write it since the beginning so it shouldn't take much self motivation. Thank you so much to all of my faithful reviewers as well as those of you who have just stumbled upon this story recently. You're what keeps this story coming.

As a side note, for a clarification of the timeline of this story, I'm going to say it's the end of June (after New Moon). It just uncomplicates things with Bella missing so much school.

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"_I... I'm ready to talk."_

He looked down quickly, shifting her body to help her sit up. "Are you sure about this Bella? I know that I was pressuring you this morning. I'm sorry. If you don't want to do this, it can wait. You have as long as you need."

"I know Jake. I want—no. I _need_ to do this." Her voice was strong as she shifted on the couch. "That is, if you're willing to listen."

"Of course," He answered softly, pulling her close so that their sides touched and nuzzling his face into her hair. He took her soft hand into his oversized one and gave it a reaffirming squeeze.

She took a few deep breathes, composing herself and figuring out where she should begin. He waited patiently.

"I didn't notice that anything was different at first," she finally started, staring straight ahead, her body tense. "When we got back, he smelled you in my room. He was agitated, told me I could never see you again. I wasn't surprised, you two are mortal enemies after all," her gaze flickered down to a blanket that she was absentmindedly fidgeting with, "At the time I was even willing. I couldn't bear to lose him again. Not so soon."

Jacob stiffened beside her but then just as quickly relaxed. This was not the time for him to get emotional. She needed him. It was as simple as that. Noticing that she had stopped at his sudden movement, he clasped her hand once more, encouraging her to go on.

She sighed softly, as if in apology, and refused to meet his eyes. "About a month after we went back to school is when I think I first clued in. The way that he glared at the other guys every time they looked at me. He started to tell me off about the clothes that I wore. Told me that I had practically turned into a common whore after he left, parading my body around for everyone to see. Still I just shrugged it off. I told myself that he was just as worried about losing me as I was about losing him. He was just being overprotective and I could handle it. I started to be more conscious about how I dressed and I avoided hanging out with other guys as much as possible. And it worked. Things started to cool off.

"Everything was fine until... Until..." she paused, collecting herself. "One day in Biology class, Mike Newton started flirting with me. It wasn't anything serious; he was just having a little fun. But Edward noticed so I told Mike to back off. After school I had to go straight to work at Newton's. I was trying to reach something on a high shelf and Mike came over to help me. I guess he rubbed up against my back as he stretched to grab it. When I got home Edward knew. He could smell Mike on me and I swear a switch just flipped or something. That was the first time he ever hit me."

Finally she looked up. The haunted look in her eyes tore at his insides and he clutched her tighter to his side as she inhaled shakily.

"He was always so apologetic," she continued, begging him to understand. "And he never lost control, not fully anyways. He would promise that it would never happen again, but then Tyler would slip me a note in Spanish, or I would spend too much time hanging out with Emmett... Eventually I knew, I just knew that it wouldn't stop and that things were only going to get worse. I tried to get away but I just couldn't and then he would apologize again and things would be better for a few days and..." her voice broke and she was edging on to hysterics.

"Shh Bella, it's alright. You can stop if you want to," He whispered into her hair while rubbing the goose pimpled flesh of her arm soothingly.

"No. I'm doing this," strength crept back into her voice when she responded a moment later. Jake saw the resolve take over her face and sighed pulling her even closer to him on the couch. He was unsure if he wanted her to go on, unsure if he could handle hearing any more.

"Last week was the worst. I was running late going over to his house on Saturday. I grabbed clothes without really looking at what I was putting on. I never realized that I hadn't washed them. Not since... When I got to the Cullens', Edward was already alone. When he got close he assumed... he thought..." she sighed, trying to find the right words. "Edward thought I was with you Jake. The clothes I was wearing, they were the same ones that I wore that last day in La Push before— well, you know," She paused.

"And he did all of that to you, beat you like that, just because he thought you disobeyed him?" Jacob questioned, his brow furrowed.

"No. He smelled you all over Jake. He thought... he accused me of sleeping with you behind his back." Her chocolate eyes focused on his as she continued. "Even after all of this time, I have never seen him in a rage like that. He started yelling. I tried to reason with him but he just wouldn't listen. He threw me across the room and my head hit the nightstand. I tried to get up but I was just so dizzy. I tried to get away, I really did you have to believe me," she was starting to hyperventilate. Jacob was about to stop her to get her to calm down, but her next words froze him, chilling him to the bone.

"Before I knew it, he was on top of me. I can barely even remember what happened next. Just the pain. And the c-cold. It was like frost biting into my skin. Enveloping me everywhere. Inside of me. Tearing me apart. I screamed and begged him to stop, but it was like he couldn't even hear me. He just kept going, grinding my head further into the side table, crushing my ribs. I wanted to die Jake. I just couldn't take it."

Jacob sat stunned. He knew that she had been through a terrible experience, but never once had he ever even imagined this.

"Finally he stopped. He pulled off of me and got dressed, leaving me lying there on the floor. He asked me who was better, you or him. I didn't answer. That only brought his fury back to the surface. He picked me up by the neck and pushed me up against the wall. I couldn't breathe. Just as my vision was starting to go black he dropped me and I fell to the floor. He asked me again, demanded to know the answer, but my throat— I just couldn't speak," at this she completely broke down, her body wracked with tremendous sobs. Jake gathered her into his arms, burying her face into the nape of his neck. He felt her warm tears soaking into his t-shirt and soon became aware of his own tears silently streaking down his face.

"Oh my God Bells, I am so, so sorry," he whispered to her, tightening his grip upon her fragile frame. "It's going to be okay. He can't hurt you anymore. It's all going to be okay." Jacob was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince her. The two sat there, Jake rubbing soothing circles into Bella's back, until her sobs quieted down into soft moans.

Once she had finally calmed down enough to relax slightly in his arms, Jacob couldn't help but ask, "How did you get away?" His voice was soft, as if trying not to scare her.

"Alice came back early," she stated simply without moving. He nodded, then shifted his weight on the couch so that he was sitting facing her. He gently sat her upright and then used his thumb to tilt her chin upwards so that she was looking into his eyes.

"Bella, why didn't you come sooner? When all of this started? You know that the pack would have protected you. I would have protected you." His eyebrows had once again scrunched together as he looked at her questioningly.

"Don't you get it Jacob? I tried. I used to call you everyday but you would never, ever answer. I tried sending you notes through Charlie but you never responded. I bet you never even looked at them. I even tried driving out here to La Push when things started to get really bad, but Edward would just disable my truck. When he saw how determined I was he threatened Charlie. Eventually I just stopped trying. It only made him angrier and it wasn't worth the risk." Her voice was lifeless and her eyes were dull.

A pained expression overtook Jacob's face and his arms began to tremble. He attempted to take deep, calming breaths but to no avail. Abruptly, he stood up from the couch and started towards the door.

"Jake..." Bella whispered, startled.

Jacob paused, his quivering back toward her, his hand already on the doorknob. "I have to go. Jared's on patrol if you need anything." he managed.

"Jacob, please," Bella begged him.

His shoulders tensed but he shook his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered before he wrenched open the door and launched himself off of the porch. He hit the ground running and soon his back had disappeared from Bella's sight, lost to the trees of the forest.

She sighed and painfully brought her legs in to her chest, curling into herself into the fetal position. She felt a single unshed tear slide its way slowly down her cheek. When it finally fell from her chin, she sat staring at the wall, catatonic.

She kept her mind blank and stayed there for what felt like hours, never moving. Eventually the sound of foot falls on the front steps came from behind her.

"I _thought_ your parents raised you right. The door's never left swinging open on its hinges at Billy's" Emily's voice trilled from the doorway. She froze when she saw Bella's soft brown curls falling over the edge of the sofa.

"Bella where's Jake?" She asked, her tone cautious. When she didn't receive an answer she hurriedly placed her bags on the counter and strode into the living room. She sat down on the other side of the couch and picked up Bella's hand, grasping it lightly.

"Bella?" she asked again worriedly.

Suddenly Bella blinked a few times, her eyes finally breaking away from the same spot on the wall and coming to rest on the other woman's face. "Emily..." she whispered. Then her lower lip began to tremble slightly and her forehead crumpled. "Oh Emily, he left. I finally told him what happened. About what _he_ did to me. How _he_.... _he_—" she faltered.

"Shh... Bella I already know. I saw the blood when the guys brought you in." Emily told her as she brought her into a tight, almost maternal hug. "Everything's going to be alright. Jake'll come around. He's just upset." Emily released her to arms length. "Sam will be back soon. He's just wrapping up the situation at the Clearwaters'."

"The Clearwater's? Isn't Charlie there?" Bella panicked, her eyes going wide.

"Don't worry Bella he's fine. Sam's there strictly on Pack business." Emily said as she stood up to start putting the groceries that she had just purchased away.

"Pack business?" Bella questioned.

Emily nodded. "Seth and Leah got into a pretty heated argument. Apparently the pack has a couple of new members. Don't worry, Charlie didn't see anything. They brought him over to Billy's after it happened."

"Wait, a _couple_ of werewolves? Leah? How is that even possible?"Bella wondered.

"We don't know," was Emily's whispered reply before she turned to the stove to start preparing dinner. Bella sank back into the couch. The news was shocking, but distracted her from what had happened earlier which was all that she could have asked her.

About half an hour later, the door opened once again to reveal a very haggard looking Sam Uley. He trudged into the house and paused, looking sharply around. "Where's Jake?" he asked. When no one answered he shook his head. "I'm going to kill him..." he muttered.

"Sam." Emily chastised him, "He found out what happened. He's just upset."

Hearing this, Sam glanced over at Bella's still form on the couch. He took in her troubled expression and sighed. Slowly he made his way into the living room and flopped into an armchair. He ran his hand through his hair then dropped his arm exhausted.

"How are things at the Clearwater's?" Emily questioned over her shoulder as she gave one of the pots a stir.

Sam winced. "About as well as can be expected I guess." Seeing the look on his face Emily dropped the subject and returned to cooking in silence.

The room was quiet, everyone deep in their own thoughts. Emily began to set the table and Sam got up to help Bella off of the couch. When the two had almost made the slow trek into the kitchen, insane howling erupted from the woods. Without a word, Sam hoisted Bella into his arms and ran to his bedroom placing Bella on the bed. He was out of the room almost as quickly, only stopping to give Emily, who had followed behind them, a quick kiss and to warn them not leave the house for any reason. Then the door was closed and the two women were shut off from knowing what was happening outside.

Emily paced the room. She assured Bella that it was probably nothing, but her posture said otherwise. Bella wished that she could be up and mobile as well, but the sharp pain that jolted through her ribs when she tried to move stopped her. Instead she satisfied herself by clenching and unclenching her fists in the blankets around her.

By the time that they finally heard anything, the meagre light coming from around the closed curtains had grown dim. Emily, who had grown tired from her restless movement, had settled on the bed beside Bella, only getting up to periodically take a quick peek out of the window. At the sound of footsteps coming down the hall, she jumped to her feet, her whole body tensed. Bella sat up, nervously awaiting whatever was coming towards the door.

When the door finally creaked open, Emily gave an enormous sigh of relief as she saw a very worn out Sam looking back at her. She ran into his arms and hugged him fiercely, the tension finally flooding from her body. The two stayed like that for a moment, relishing each other's contact until Sam stiffened in her embrace. Emily looked up at him to see that his gaze was focused on Bella's anxious form on the bed.

"We picked up a fresh trail," he announced. "Victoria's back."

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Okay so please don't kill me. Keep in mind that Jake is just mad at himself. He'll be back very soon. It just needed to happen for where this story is going. Also, I know that the whole Clearwaters thing was kind of random, but that needed to be there too. Review please!


	8. Chapter 8

Hey my lovelies! Here's a new chapter a whole week before I promised the next one will be up. Aren't I fabulous? No? Okay... haha. You'll notice that the chapter is pretty short. Originally it was suppost to be twice as long but I felt that this was a natural break and I didn't want getting the second half finished stressing me out this week during midterms. So you'll just have to live with what I've given you for right now without pestering me_ too_ much for the next chapter. It'll be out soon enough I promise.

On a completely different note, something went a little awry when it came to reviews last week. I didn't receive any for a while and then all of a sudden I got a ton, some of which I don't think were even for the right story. It was weird. If you reviewed the last chapter you might want to check to see if it was actually sent to me. Or you could just send me another even better review this week! =)

Sorry for the super long note this week. Here's the next chapter!

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Bella tossed and turned between the sheets, unable to get comfortable and coax her mind back into sleep. She needed it too. The nightmare that she had experienced that night had been by far the worst yet. It had been so bad in fact, that she had literally screamed until she was sick, waking everyone in the house and even sending Quil running in from patrol outside. Jacob had tried his best to sooth her back into unconsciousness, rocking her gently in his arms for nearly an hour, but it hadn't helped. He was forced to give up when it was time to leave for patrol with Sam. He had glanced at her anxiously as he left the room then turned, defeated, to meet with the guys and get to work.

The boys' shifts had more than doubled since Victoria's return four days prior. This meant that Bella had barely seen Jacob since his sudden departure and reappearance. He scheduled most of his shifts so that he could spend the majority of the night with her, comforting her. In what little she did see of him during the day she found that he had become withdrawn from her, as if afraid to hurt her even more.

Jake had left the house almost three hours ago, and Bella finally gave up any hope of once again dozing off. She freed herself from the sweaty, tangled blankets and hobbled out into the hallway rubbing her eyes wearily. She was greeted in the kitchen by a sunken eyed Emily and her gut immediately twisted in guilt from depriving the woman of her sleep.

"Emily I'm so sorry about last night, I didn't mean to wake you," she gushed, embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it Bella, I would have been up in an hour anyways. Eggs?" Emily offered her a plate full of food and smiled at her weakly.

"Oh no thanks, I'm not hungry. I'm still kind of queasy from last night," she lied, turning away to face the windows. Anything but meeting the other woman's eyes. "Actually, I think I might go out to get some fresh air. Do you mind?"

"Sure hunny, just don't go out too far. Make sure you stay on the property. And don't overexert yourself. Paul's patrolling the house so holler if you need anything. Oh, and take a muffin with you please." Emily said distractedly as she hurried to take something out of the oven.

Bella nodded grabbing the proffered muffin off of the counter and flitted out the door without another word.

She knew that she would have to hurry if she wanted to slip past Paul unnoticed. She would only have one shot at this and she was determined that she would reach her goal.

She limped as quickly as she could manage to the edge of the woods and picked up a sturdy looking stick. Using it to support a great deal of her weight, she continued on her journey. The path was at least somewhat familiar from her time spent with Jacob _before_. The memories that came flooding back to her clouded her eyes with tears and only made her more resolute to complete her task.

The dirt road wound through the trees and Bella began to grow impatient. She needed to do this now. Before anyone grew suspect. Her chest was beginning to throb and she was already winded though she couldn't have travelled more than a mile. Finally, she came upon a final bend climbing the edge of the path and knew that she had almost made it. Using her walking stick as leverage, she trudged painfully up the incline, stumbling every so often on the loose gravel.

At the top she came to a rest, staring out over the rocks at the ocean raging below. Though it was already late in June, the weather in Washington hadn't improved much. The wind whipped her curly brown mane around her face and hurled salty brine at her flesh. The clouds above had gathered into a heavy grey blanket and rain had begun to fall gently down, as if weeping for her. She smirked at the irony.

She was so sick of what her life had become. She was sick of her pain and tired of the grief that she was forcing upon everyone else. If she just disappeared everything would be so much easier. She wouldn't be a burden to the Uley's, Charlie would be safe, Victoria could just leave everyone alone, and Jake... Jake could be happy. She saw what the added stress was doing to everyone. Noted the bags under their eyes, the weariness in their posture. And Jacob. She saw the agony in his eyes every time he looked at her and she just couldn't bear it any longer.

If she were gone she wouldn't have to feel.

She took a step closer to the edge of the cliff and let her stick fall to her side. Looking down she watched the white caps break across the rocks. Holding the muffin Emily had told her to bring in her hand she tossed it over the edge and watched it fall. She admired how easily it disappeared beneath the surface. As if it had never been. She could be like that. Just one simple step and then gone into the painless oblivion.

A small hailstone hit her shoulder and she blinked abruptly looking around. _Did I really just think that? Of course dying wouldn't make things any better. It would destroy Jake. And Charlie too. _She shook her head, concluding that sleep deprivation was clouding her judgement. More hail stones began to hit her and she noticed that the rain was no longer a light drizzle but coming down in sheets. She raised her arms above her head to try to give herself some semblance of protection and stumbled away from the edge. She tripped over her walking cast and would have fallen if her back had not hit the stone wall behind her.

Composing herself, she took a deep breath and slowly turned around. He was standing there looking perfect as usual despite the gale that was quickly whipping up around them. The gusting wind made his wild bronze hair look appropriate and the rain glittered on his cold marble skin.

Instinctively, Bella took a step back and filled her lungs in preparation to scream. Before she could even blink he was in her face, one hand digging into her not yet healed throat, the other clamped firmly over her mouth. "Do it and I swear to you Bella, you will regret it." He hissed.

She glared at him but, finding it difficult to breath, nodded her head in comprehension. He loosened his grip around her neck and released her mouth only to wind his free hand into her hair pulling her head back painfully. She was forced to look into his loathing eyes and what she saw in those endless obsidian pools nearly made her sick with fear.

"How dare you?" he growled at her. "I turn my back for one second and you run off to that mutt again. Was I too lenient with my last lesson?" He stared at her waiting for a response. When he didn't get one he shook her so violently that her feet left the ground. "Answer me!" he shouted, spittle flying from his lips and splattering on her face.

"Edward no... please," she whispered, begging him. "I'm sorry. We didn't do anything I swear—"

He slapped her roughly across the face. "Shut the hell up. Don't you ever lie to me again. I'm not stupid. Maybe I didn't make it clear before but you belong to _me_. You're_ mine_. I might have been compassionate before but this time you won't be so lucky. You _will_ learn your lesson."His mouth was inches away from her ear and his cold breath forced a shiver down her spine.

His hands disappeared from her body and she dropped to the ground. Catching her balance, she tried desperately to stumble away only to find his arm forming an iron grip around her waist. She cried out in surprise and her feet flew out from underneath her, surrendering her to his control.

"I thought I told you to be quiet," he snarled at her through gritted teeth. His fingers scraped painfully across her stomach as he spun her around to face him. Swiftly he tore her shirt from her body and discarded it off into the mud. The cold rain drilled into the bare flesh of her back and shoulders and she began to shiver uncontrollably. He grabbed her breast through her bra and began to fondle it painfully, twisting and clawing at it through the fabric until she whimpered pitifully.

As the noise escaped her throat he crashed his mouth onto hers, kissing her violently and forcing his tongue into her mouth. He grazed his razor sharp teeth along her bottom lip and she began to struggle in earnest, raking her finger nails across his immovable flesh and kicking him with her uninjured leg.

Disgusted with her behaviour, he threw her to the ground and paced methodically, looking for something. "What will it take to get you to learn to appreciate me?" he questioned, still searching the area around them. Bella lay on the ground immobile, afraid of what he might do if she attempted to leave. Even more terrified of what he was going to do to her when she didn't. Finally, his gaze rested upon the walking stick that she had abandoned. He picked it up, testing its weight in his strong hands. Turning to her, he raised it above his head, brandishing his new weapon like a baseball bat. Bella cringed and threw her hands up to protect her head.

As the first blows fell across her back she bit her lip, forcing herself to stay silent. As they increased in frequency and intensity, she found that she was screaming for him to stop, telling him that she would do anything as long as the pain ceased. A clatter in the woods told her that he had thrown away the stick and abruptly she was being lifted by her throat, her feet dangling uselessly in the air.

"You are _mine_," he repeated, hissing out the words. "You _will_ learn to accept that!"

Her vision began to go blurry from lack of oxygen. She felt rather than saw him begin to struggle with her pants, forcing them down. He had barely gotten them past the tops of her thighs when suddenly he stiffened, sniffing the air. Snarling, he threw her away from him, not caring where she landed, and ran in the opposite direction.

As Bella hit the ground, she skidded, unable to control herself. As she felt her legs start to go over the edge of the cliff, she thrashed her arms out desperately for anything that she could reach. Her left hand grasped at a large stone, but her mud slicked fingers slipped off of it uselessly, not even breaking her momentum as she glided over the end. She was luckier with her right hand as she hooked it through an exposed tree root hanging just over the edge of the cliff. The force of her body's descent pulled her arm from its socket and she quickly threw her other arm up to add support.

She tried to use her legs to scramble back up to safety, but her casted foot couldn't find any purchase on the sheer rock face. She screamed for help praying that one of the pack brothers would hear her, but nobody came. It didn't escape her that she had come to the cliffs this morning looking to die and now that she was faced with the actual prospect of falling, she was desperate to be safely back on the land above. Her hands began to slip from the tree root and she knew that she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

"Jacob!" she cried one last time, frantic to be heard above the crashing waves and pounding rain. She finally lost her grip and fell backwards, arms and legs flailing at her sides. When she landed, she barely had time to realize that she had hit land and not water when her world went black and she lost consciousness.

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Again, sorry for the brevity. Don't harass me too much about getting the next chapter out, although I know you probably all want to torture it out of me right now. Review!

Oh and if you want a little extra insight into the author's brain, I get a lot of my inspiration from music I've heard or dances I've seen. On my profile I'm going to post a link to a dance that I feel embodies Edward and Bella's relationship in this piece. Just for if you're curious ;)


	9. Chapter 9

Okay so basically things have been wickedly stressful for me and I got to the point where I was going to put this story on hiatus for a while. I ended up deciding against it, but updates will definitely be coming pretty slowly for a bit. I need to start focusing more on school and other important things in my life. So, sorry for the late update but hey, at least it's better late than never.

Thank you so much to all of my reviewers. If it weren't for you, people definitely would be waiting a heck of a lot longer for this chapter.

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_Shift's almost over Jake. When we get back I want you to take the afternoon off. You're exhausted._

Jacob sighed inwardly at the thought of taking more time off. He wanted to _do_ something, to have some form of accomplishment that he could bring home to Bella. He was tired of these endless patrols that always turned out the same: they'd run a trail for miles until the scent finally went cold and then they'd turn back with nothing gained.

At the same time, part of him was eager for the time off. He had spent very little time with Bella ever since her revelation to him days earlier. He felt terrible about it, but had elected to keep his distance for the time being. He wanted to make sure that she had the space that she needed in order to recover from her traumatic experience. Or at least that's what he told himself.

In reality, he knew that he had really been avoiding Bella. He was furious with himself for having allowed these terrible things to happen to the woman he loved, and seeing the pain on her face everyday twisted the knife of guilt further into his gut.

Shaking his head roughly, he quickened his pace, eager to chase the reminder out of his head. They were nearing the outer border of the Olympic National Park after having chased a fresh trail all the way to Tacoma. Upon reaching the city, the sickly sweet scent had simply vanished and he and Sam had turned back after exhausting all possible leads.

_I know this is hard for you Jake, but you can start searching again tomorrow morning. I'll reorganize the schedule again as soon as we get back._ Sam added when the silence between them had stretched on to an almost unbearable length.

_No, it's okay Sam._ He finally replied, opening his mind to his leader. _Leave the schedule as is. I really should take a break and visit home. Rachel's been in from college for a week and I still haven't seen her yet. I'll probably take Bella along to give her a chance to get out of the house. Speaking of which, I know you were planning to check in on Seth and Leah when we get back, but do you mind if I stop by Forks instead? I wanted to pick up a few things for Bella._

_Don't worry about it, I'll come with you. The Clearwaters can wait._ From the reluctant tone of Sam's thoughts, Jacob could tell that he was referring more to a certain female werewolf than to the family in general, but he didn't comment on it. Things had been tense ever since Leah had phased and he knew that the pack's telekinetic link had put an added strain on Sam and Leah's already brittle relationship. If Sam chose to avoid her instead of facing his problems, he wouldn't mention it. After all, of the many things that Jacob Black was, he was not a hypocrite.

As they neared the edge of the forest, the burning smell of civilization stung their nostrils. Jacob slunk off into a thicket just inside the tree line and phased back into his human form. He nodded to Sam who was sitting as a century just inside the cover of the branches and hurried off toward the Swan residence.

His body switched into autopilot as he easily scaled the trees outside of Bella's window. He effortlessly jerked the screen out of the way and slipped inside. Edward's distinctive scent hit him full force and he gagged, quickly covering his nose with his arm. Hurrying to Bella's closet Jacob grabbed a backpack from the floor and began to fill it with articles of her clothing. Her favourite sweatshirt, a worn pair of jeans, all tossed into the bottom of the bag. He strode over to the bed and grabbed her pillow only to be overwhelmed by the leech's disgusting stench. He promptly discarded it and was reaching for the blanket folded at the foot of her bed when he noticed the drawer of her bedside table was slightly ajar, the corner of a picture frame sticking out.

After unceremoniously stuffing the blanket into the already full backpack, he gingerly sat down on the bed and opened the drawer. Lifting the frame, he saw that the glass protecting the picture was dented in the corner and cracks spidered their way across the image, distorting it, but it didn't matter. It was a familiar picture and he knew what it contained. He and Bella sat relaxing in his garage. He had his arm planted firmly around her waist while she waved a wrench through the air, her eyes glowing with laughter. It had been taken the previous winter, shortly before _he_ had returned. It was the last time he had seen her truly smile.

Glancing back into the now open drawer, he saw that a jumbled stack of paper lay at the bottom. Taking the messy sheets in his hands, he flipped through them absentmindedly. The writing was blurred in places as if the ink had been smudged by fallen tears, and there were faint traces of red around the edges of some of the more tattered pieces. Shuffling back to the first sheet he began to read.

_Jacob,_

_I know you're still mad but please, I'm begging you. He really hurt me this time and I don't know what to do... I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. Just please, talk to me._

_Bella_

Jacob starred at the letter that he held in his hand, unable to move. Finally, a sharp bark from outside roused him from his trance and he shoved the rest of the papers into the pocket of his cutoffs. Throwing the overstuffed backpack onto his shoulder, he leapt out of the window and dashed off into the woods.

He changed back into his wolf form and, clutching the straps of the bag between his teeth, crept back to the area where he had left Sam.

_Sorry for rushing you Jake, but we need to get back to La Push before shift change..._ One look from Jacob silenced Sam, and the two of them began to run off in the direction of the reserve without another word.

When they reached the edge of the woods in La Push, the two men phased back and shrugged into their shorts before heading to Sam's house. As they neared the small cottage, Emily became visible pacing in and out of view from the front window. She was clearly distraught and Jake saw Sam's face tighten with worry before they both began to jog towards the door.

The second that Sam stepped inside, Emily rushed into his arms. She was hysterical and it took him a few minutes to calm her enough so that she could speak. Jake dropped the backpack onto the couch then walked back into the kitchen, anxious to hear what was wrong.

"Oh God Sam, it's Bella." Emily finally managed after taking a deep breath. Jacob's stomach plummeted to the floor.

"She left a few hours ago to go on a walk. I haven't heard a thing from her since. I've been trying to contact Paul but I haven't gotten a reply. What if she fell Sam? She could be out there in the forest hurt and alone. Or what if she's lost? I was suppost to change her bandages an hour ago and her pain meds must have worn off by now. How could I have been so stupid? I should never have let her go out by herself in the first place. I was just so busy and I felt bad about how she's cooped up here all day and I wasn't thinking..." tears had begun to make their way slowly down her cheek as she inhaled shakily. She turned slowly to the other man standing frozen in the corner of the room. "Jacob I'm so, so sorry," she whispered.

"Shh Emily... It's okay. It's not your fault." Sam soothed her as he took her gently back into his arms. "Jacob, call a meeting. I'll be out in a minute," he said over the top of her head then turned his attention back to his imprint.

Jake stumbled back out of the house and phased hurriedly, howling almost before he had completed his transformation. He gave another deafening holler for good measure before pacing the yard agitatedly. He was soon joined by Sam and they both walked the perimeter, waiting for the others to arrive.

A blur of grey fur emerged from the woods to their right and Jacob snarled, crouching low, ready to attack. _Where the hell have you been Paul?_

_Jacob._ Sam warned, but his penetrating stare was fixed upon the oversized wolf that had just appeared before them.

_I'm sorry Sam. I... I—_ Where his words failed him, his thoughts certainly didn't. Images of Rachel's face filled the other two wolves' heads and Jacob's growling grew louder.

_I'm sorry man, I know she's your sister, but I couldn't help it. I just saw her walking down the street and then bam! Imprint._ Paul offered in explanation.

_I don't care._ Jacob rumbled.

_You don't?! Then why are you—_

_Bella's missing you stupid idiot. You were suppost to be protecting her and now she's gone. _Jake continued, ready to pounce.

_Wait, what? — Shit._ Paul stammered. Jacob lunged at him, baring his teeth, but Sam jumped in the way at the last second.

_We'll deal with this later. Now both of you calm down._ Sam commanded. He sat on his haunches between them and waited for the others to join them. Finally, when all eight of the pack's werewolves had arrived, Sam stood and began to tread back and forth across the small circle they had formed.

_Bella's gone missing. _He finally started once everyone was listening_. We need to organize a search. We'll spread out in the trees and follow her scent. Leah and Seth stay here to guard the house and let us know if she comes back._

_That's bullshit Sam. I can track just as well as any of you and you know that— _Leah protested_._

_Stay. Here. _Sam growled, the tone of the Alpha heavy in his voice_. _Leah groaned, but didn't reply, laying down and resting her head on her paws. _Everyone else let's move out_.

Bella's scent was easy to trace as it wound through the trees. The path that she took looked vaguely familiar to Jacob until finally he realized where she was headed. _The cliffs_, he whispered in his mind, quickening his pace to take the lead.

They had nearly reached their destination when Quil stiffened and stopped mid stride to sniff the air. _Bloodsucker_, he stated causing the others to pause and inhale of their own accord.

_Alright, we'll have to split up. Quil, Paul and I will go after the cold one while Embry, Jared, and Jacob keep searching for Bella. Move out._ Sam ordered.

They were about to separate when a flash of pale skin through the surrounding trees caught their attention. All six of the wolves' instincts kicked in and they tore after the vampire's receding back.

They were quickly gaining on him and Jacob caught a flash of bronze hair bobbing between the branches in front of them. _Edward_, he snarled just before he sprang, overtaking the leech and sinking his teeth deep into Edward's calf. The bloodsucker tried to shake him off but failed. Finally he turned and brutally kicked Jacob in the stomach, sending him flying backward through the trees, a chunk of cold flesh still clenched in his jaws. Jacob jumped back to his feet the instant that he landed, spitting the rotten flesh from his mouth. He began to run back to help his pack mates when a piercing shriek cut through the air.

Jacob halted in his tracks and turned to race in the other direction, searching frantically for Bella. He barely heard the thoughts of the pack in his head as he continued, sniffing the ground, trying to recapture her scent. He knew that Sam had given the order for the others to fall back and that Paul had refused, trying to right his earlier mistakes. He didn't care. He had to find Bella and he had to find her fast.

At last he was able to rediscover her path and began to race towards where he knew he'd find her.

"Jacob!" Bella's scream sliced through him and was soon followed by a sickening crunch. Jacob quickened his pace to a full on sprint. He reached the cliff but saw no one. He phased back to his human form and began to frantically search the surrounding area, praying that he'd find a clue. Finally he looked down and saw what looked like claw marks furrowed deep into the mud that lead right to the end of the cliff. Jacob ran to the edge and glanced down. Bella's body lay prone at an awkward angle on one of the lower ledges. She wasn't moving.

"Sam!" Jacob screamed, hurrying over the edge. He scrambled down the rock face, not caring about the bruises he was giving himself as he threw himself from rock to rock on the way down.

He reached the ledge that Bella was perched upon and brushed her hair out of her face. Flecks of blood spattered her lips and an odd keening noise was coming from her throat every time she inhaled. Jacob looked up to see that Sam had phased back and was standing with them on the outcropping that Bella had landed on. He knelt beside Jacob with an anxious expression on his face.

"Sam there's something wrong," Jacob whispered, "she's not breathing right."

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Thanks for reading! Review please!


	10. Chapter 10

I shouldn't have written this chapter for you and instead should be working on my last paper, but seeing John Mayer in concert last night made me happy and I couldn't resist. Exams will be over by the end of the month and then I should be able to update more frequently.

Okay, so you may have noticed that I write Sam differently from a lot of other people. Personally, I don't like it when Sam is portrayed as a cold, heartless, emotionless jerk and therefore my Sam was born haha. You'll get more insight into my version of his character a little bit later on in the story. For now, just take it in stride, and know that he cares really deeply for Bella.

Enjoy!

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"_Sam there's something wrong," Jacob whispered, "she's not breathing right."_

"Her lung collapsed," Sam acknowledged grimly. "We need to get her to Carlisle immediately, but I'm afraid to move her. A fall from that height..."

"Can't you do something?" Jake asked frantically.

"I'm sorry Jacob. We'll get her to the hospital as quickly as we can but until then... I really wish I could help but there's nothing I can do." Sam answered, trying to keep his voice calm as he reached out to touch Jake's shoulder soothingly.

Jacob groaned in frustration, running both hands roughly through his hair.

"What can we do?" Embry's voice sounded from the cliff above. He, along with the rest of the pack looked down at them anxiously, worry written on all of their faces.

"We need a backboard; you can use the top of the old picnic table on the beach. Someone needs to get my truck. Emily will give you the keys. And Jared, call Carlisle. Tell him it's an emergency and he needs to be waiting at the hospital doors with a stretcher." Sam called back to them. He then returned his attention to Bella, trying to assess her for further injuries.

"Sam," Jared called out, "Paul hasn't come back yet."

Sam sighed and hesitated, but his eyes hardened before he replied, "Paul can take care of himself. Bella is our first priority right now. Get moving."

The pack scattered, each member making themselves as useful as possible. Sam took Bella's pulse while Jacob sat back on his haunches, his head in his hands. Bella's laboured breathing filled the silence.

"What if she doesn't make it Sam?" Jacob's voice was so quiet it was almost inaudible. He dropped his hands into his lap and his shoulders sagged forward. "I should have been there to protect her," he continued, his voice growing stronger as he stood to pace the small ledge.

"I swear to you Jacob I won't let her die." Sam stated reassuringly. "And it's not your fault. You were on patrol."

"It _is_ my fault goddamnit! I should have been there. She needed me and what did I do? I avoided her. Now it's too late." Jake growled and punched the cliff wall with all of his might, causing the surface to crack as a cascade of small rocks and other debris tumbled down.

Sam leapt up and grabbed his arm before he could wind up again. "You need to calm down Jacob. It's not too late. She's still alive and she still needs you. You can't let yourself give up."

Jacob's tense muscles suddenly released and he slumped forward relying on Sam for support. "I can't do this," he whispered, all of the fight suddenly drained from his system.

"Yes you can." Sam assured him, then edged him back to where Bella remained on the cliff face. Jake slowly knelt beside her and gathered her tiny, cold hands into one of his large palms. He brushed his fingertips lightly across her pale face, stopping to gently wipe a lone tear off of her cheek with his thumb.

Bending forward, Jacob ghosted his lips over her forehead and placed a soft kiss just below her hairline. "Don't you dare leave me," he whispered, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. He sat there with her trying to calm his breathing as he listened to Bella's own struggle to obtain each lungful of air.

Sam kept his distance, allowing Jacob some time to himself after a rough couple of weeks. He paced the far end of the ledge, impatiently running his hand through his hair. Finally, he saw Jared's anxious face peer over the cliff above and hurriedly scaled the rocky face to join the rest of the pack. Embry and Quil held the weather worn boards of the old picnic table between them while Jared stood beside Sam's pickup, lowering the tailgate. The boys quickly put together a makeshift pulley system, using some strong cables found in the back of the truck and began to test its strength, insuring that the old wood of the table wouldn't collapse under strain.

Sam was just finishing the final touches on the crude backboard when Jared grabbed his arm, a worried expression darkening his eyes. "Sam..." he whispered eyeing the cliff edge to see if Jacob would be able to overhear their conversation.

Sam finished what he was doing then stood, wiping his hands on his shorts, and walked with Jared to the edge of the forest.

"Carlisle said that they don't have the proper equipment to take care of Bella at Forks hospital. He told me we'll need to take her to Port Angeles for her to receive treatment." Jared said in a rush, keeping his voice low despite the distance they now stood from the younger wolves.

"She isn't going to make it to Port Angeles." Sam hissed through gritted teeth.

"I know." Jared sighed looking down.

Sam clenched his fists in frustration and gave a strangled yell. He shook his head fiercely to regain control then turned his back on Jared, beginning to walk back to their rescue operation. "Call him again," He yelled over his shoulder without looking back.

As he reached the cliffs edge, Sam grabbed the improvised stretcher and climbed down. He placed the board gently on the ground beside Bella and gently shook Jacob's shoulder, rousing him to help in their efforts.

"Support her neck and shoulders," Sam ordered and Jacob quickly complied, cradling Bella's head between his forearms as he slowly slid his hands under her upper back. Sam held her lower body steady, and together the two of them carefully transferred Bella's lifeless form onto the awaiting planks. Sam climbed onto the board with her and quickly braced her hips and shoulders.

"Keep the board steady," Sam directed Jacob, "we can't let her get jostled too much." Jake nodded and Sam turned his head to the sky shouting, "Quil, Embry bring us up!"

It was slow going. Jacob climbed the rocks beside them, constantly reaching out a hand to stop the table from swaying. At one point, a cable got caught in a rocky outcropping above them. When it came free, the slack created in the rope dropped the table to one side dangerously and Sam had to scramble to keep Bella in place. A couple of the boards cracked at the sudden jerk on their ancient fibres but held firm. Everyone froze, hardly breathing in fear that the remaining timbers would snap. When it became apparent that they would hold, Quil and Embry continued their work, slowly pulling the others to safety.

Once they reached the top, Embry and Quil each grabbed an end of the table and carefully slid it into the bed of the truck. Jacob gracefully hopped into the back with them and settled in taking one of Bella's hands in his own. Jared, who was already seated behind the wheel, met Sam's eyes in the rear view mirror, then turned the key causing the engine to roar to life.

Jared stayed well below the speed limit and tried to avoid any potholes, but every bump still caused Bella to wince in her sleep, and Jacob's jaw to clench in aggravation.

Finally, after what felt like an agonizing amount of time, Jared pulled into the emergency entrance of Forks Hospital. Carlisle was waiting outside with an ambulance, the doors open and the engine already running. When he saw the truck pulling in, the blonde vampire jogged over, already making an assessment of Bella's injuries as the boys lowered her from the bed. Paramedics rushed over to join him and he began to yell orders, asking one to start an IV while another prepped for an emergency intubation. Once the other medical staff had begun to run back to the ambulance, Bella's pale form strapped tightly to a stretcher in between them, Carlisle finally turned to the Quileute boys, gathered uselessly beside the truck. "Was it—?" Carlisle asked Sam, unable to finish his question.

Sam only nodded in response, his face grim. Carlisle's jaw tightened at the confirmation and he turned brusquely, heading back to his awaiting patient.

As soon as Carlisle's back disappeared into the ambulance, the doors slammed behind him and the vehicle roared off down the road, the echo of its siren remaining hauntingly in the air.

-----

So there's a super short chapter just to sate your guys' appetite for a little bit. Just as a bit of warning, things still have to get a little bit worse for Bella before they can start getting better. Sorry!

Review Please!


	11. Chapter 11

Hey! I'm back! ...I think. For a while anyways. Hopefully I haven't lost too many of my totally awesome and faithful reviewers during this long break. Yes I have been done school for a long time and I actually passed organic chemistry (I'm still in shock). Sadly my only excuse for not updating is I've been too busy... well... having fun I guess. Lame, I know but it's the truth. I'm super sorry for the utter lack of updates and I promise I'll try to make it up to you guys

P.s.: 200 reviews guys? Thanks!

The car ride lasted an eternity. What should have been only an hour felt like days as Jacob sat trapped in the confines of Sam's pickup truck. His fingers endlessly tapped on the door as his impatience grew with every second that he couldn't be at Bella's side.

Once again his eyes flickered to the speedometer, willing it to inch further, but to no avail. Sam was already pushing the vehicle well over the speed limit. Any faster and they would be almost guaranteed a ticket that neither of them needed.

Finally they approached the Port Angeles city limits and Jake let out a sigh of relief, but then instantly tensed again. He was apprehensive about what he would be faced with upon entering the hospital. A glance at Sam told him that the older man was just as worried. Jake gripped the armrest until the plastic cracked.

The parking lot at the small Olympic Medical Centre was nearly empty when they finally arrived, so Sam parked haphazardly near the doors and the pair rushed in through the emergency room entrance.

A bespectacled woman, hair pulled severely back into a tight bun, glared at them from behind the triage desk. Ignoring her glowering expression, Jacob hurried forward and immediately began to hammer the woman with questions.

"Isabella Swan. Where is she? Is she okay? When can we see her?" he was speaking so fast he could barely understand himself.

"And what is your relationship to the patient?" the woman asked condescendingly.

"I'm her best friend," Jacob replied without pause.

"I'm not authorized to give you that information," the receptionist retorted. She was already turning back to her computer screen, dismissing him.

Jacob couldn't stop himself. He slammed his hands down on the table in front of the woman, causing her to jump and give a small shriek of alarm. Before he could say anything that he would regret though, Sam placed a firm hand on his shoulder, then leaned forward so he could speak calmly to the woman. "Ma'am, I know that you aren't allowed to disclose a patient's information to anyone other than her immediate family, but we're the ones who found Bella, and right now we're the closest thing to a family she's got. If you'll just tell us how she's doing, I promise we won't bother you again."

The receptionist glanced briefly at Sam, but quickly turned away as she responded. "I'm sorry sir, but I simply can't give you that information."

Jacob stared at her in disbelief. They were finally so close to Bella that he could feel it in his bones and yet they were being held back by this unreasonable, inconsiderate woman. Jacob's hands, which still remained splayed on the desk, balled up until they were clenched tightly into fists. He looked to the ceiling praying for patience and was surprised to feel hot tears rolling down his cheeks. Hurriedly he swiped them from his face and cleared his throat before he whispered shakily, "please..."

That was it. Just one word. But it was enough for the receptionist to look over, and finally a look of compassion swept her face. "Please, call me Beth," she said to Sam as her fingers began working furiously across the keyboard. "Your friend is still in surgery, but she's listed as being in stable condition. If the two of you could please find a seat in the waiting room, I'll update you if anything changes." She gave the boys a weak smile and turned, reluctantly this time, to get back to her work.

Jacob had so many questions that he still wanted to ask her, but Sam wrapped an arm securely around his shoulders and lead him to an empty row of chairs in one corner of the room.

Time inched by, crawling at less than a snail's pace. Jacob couldn't stop fidgeting as he waited, twisting from side to side, trying to get comfortable in his unyielding plastic chair. As he slouched back trying to find a better position, he felt a bulge in the back pocket of his cutoffs. He reached behind him and pulled out the folded stack of Bella's letters, all but forgotten in the madness that had ensued since that morning.

Quickly, Jacob glanced at Sam but found him leaning back in his chair, resting with his eyes closed. Carefully unfurling the stack and pressing it flat in his lap, he began to read each of the letters that Bella had written to him, but had stopped sending to him knowing that her earlier messages had remained unopened. Each new sheet tore away a fresh strip of his heart as he continued to read about the horror and despair that Bella had been going through while he remained in La Push, oblivious. He was continually drawn back to one letter in particular. It looked newer than most of the others as the edges were less tattered, and yet it was the one in which Bella's scrolling cursive was the most obscured by tearstains. Holding the precious sheet in his trembling hands, he once again read the note that he now had memorized, the pain filled words having seared themselves into his brain.

_Jacob,_

_I don't even know why I keep writing these. You'll never read them. Well, maybe one day you will if he really does end up going too far. Anyways, I just needed to tell you: I made a mistake. I don't know what possessed me to ever think that he would be good for me. Now I know what I should have figured out long ago. I just can't believe that it took me sitting here, staring at a pool of my own blood to figure it out. I made a mistake Jacob Black. I never should have chosen him. I know it's too late now to change anything but I just needed you to know. If this letter ever makes it into your hands Jake, please know that I love you. I always did, and I always will for the rest of my life, however long that may be._

_Isabella Marie Swan_

He kept reading the last line over and over again, lightly tracing the words with his fingers. She had loved him.

He was broken from his revere by a loud commotion coming from the hospital entrance. Looking around startled, he realized that Sam was no longer beside him, but at the centre of the disturbance, trying to calm a very agitated Charlie Swan.

"She was in your care! You should have been protecting her! How could you let this happen?" Charlie roared, his face a dangerous shade of crimson.

"She was attacked Chief Swan. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect her," Sam replied holding his hands up defensively.

"Attacked? By what? One of those goddamn giant wolves? I knew I should never have let her go camping with you and your gang of irresponsible young hooligans..."

"It wasn't a wolf Charlie. Again, I'm sorry, but I can't reveal to you who was responsible. Now if you could please just try to calm down..."

Jacob hadn't even realized he'd moved until he was standing directly between the two men, looking Charlie squarely in the eye. "It was Edward," he stated firmly then watched as all of the color drained from the Chief's face.

"E-Edward?" Charlie stammered uncomprehendingly. He looked back and forth between the two Quileutes a few times before his eyes once again locked with Jacob's. Seeing the conviction there, Charlie's jaw set and he turned away, his hand going to his gun as he exited the hospital doors.

"Charlie wait!" Sam called after him, but his pleas were ignored. Finally, once Charlie's form had disappeared into his cruiser, Sam turned to Jacob, a look of frustration clouding his eyes.

"Do you really think that was wise Jake? Charlie's a human. There's nothing he can do in this situation except cause more trouble." Sam growled, his voice too low for anyone else in the waiting room to hear.

"He had a right to know the truth," Jacob argued, though his eyes stayed glued to the floor.

"He'll only get in the way," Sam sighed, but the fight had left him. "Go take a seat, Bella should be out of surgery soon."

Jacob nodded and flopped clumsily into the nearest chair. As the hard plastic jolted his body, he couldn't help but wince at the pain that suddenly swept through his torso. Immediately he tried to cover it up but knew he was too late as Sam quickly squatted in front of him, looking at him with a concerned expression.

"It's your ribs isn't it? From when Edward attacked earlier?" he stated more than asked.

"I'm fine, the adrenalin must have taken the edge off," then at the look on Sam's face he automatically protested, "I don't need a doctor."

"Jake, if you don't heal properly, the pack is down a wolf. You know better than anyone that we can't handle that right now," Sam said soothingly.

Jake refused to look at him, but after a moment nodded grudgingly. Sam lightly squeezed his shoulder then sat in the plastic chair next to him. "Go get yourself checked in. I'll send Carlisle when he has a moment," Sam mumbled as he picked up an old edition of _Sports Illustrated_. Jake got up slowly and made his way to the front desk.

After filling out some paper work, a nurse led him down a long corridor and pointed him into a small private room. She handed him a slightly ratty looking hospital gown and began to speak to him as he slipped it on. "I understand that you'd prefer that the doctors and nurses from the medical centre not treat you out of respect for your religious beliefs. Dr Cullen will be here as soon as he's available. Until then, feel free to make yourself comfortable and don't hesitate to call if you need anything." She finished her speech with a dazzling smile that Jacob only replied to with the slightest of nods. Her smile faltered slightly at his dismissal and she quickly left the room, shutting the door softly behind her.

Relieved to finally be alone, Jake stumbled to the small bed wedged into one corner of the room. The lack of sleep and the trauma from the past day had finally caught up with him and he almost melted into the bed as he made to lie down. Before he could form another complete thought, he was asleep.

That definitely was not where I intended to end this chapter. It was suppost to end with a cliffie =( oh well... This was more of a natural break anyways.

But good news people... things will start to get happier in the next chapter (I said start. Don't be expecting rainbows and unicorns right away, that's just insanity). I must say, I really am excited for the somewhat happier portion of this story. It feels good to get all of this angst out of the way!

And I'm also pretty excited for the midnight screening of Eclipse next week. High fives for cookie worthy abs! (Sorry for the lame SNL joke haha)

Review please!


	12. Chapter 12

Happy Canada Day everyone! Even to the non-Canadians haha. Here's a present for you. I thought you deserved it after the extreme lack of updates before. Enjoy!

"Jacob?"

Jake rolled over slowly and rubbed his eyes groggily. The room around him was unfamiliar and for a moment he wondered why he was sleeping someplace other than the Uley's.

Then he remembered.

"Carlisle?" he mumbled, turning to face the blonde vampire, "how's Bella?"

"She's awake and recovering remarkably well considering… How are you feeling?" Dr Cullen had a kind smile on his face but his eyes were weary.

"Wait a second, she's awake? How long have I been out?" Jacob asked, beginning to panic.

"It's been a little over 24 hours now. Sam asked me to let you rest after everything that's happened," Carlisle noticed a trembling beginning in Jacob's hands and quickly added, "you need to remain calm Jacob. You fractured three ribs and I don't want to have to set them over again."

Jacob sighed then clenched his fists, taking deep breaths until the shaking subsided. When he felt that his voice would be steady again he asked, "When can I see her?"

"As soon as you'd like. You're free to leave whenever you're ready. Just make sure you avoid any sort of roughhousing for the next few days." Carlisle gave him a tight lipped smile then grabbed his clipboard and proceeded to edge toward the doorway.

"Carlisle," Jacob stopped him before he could leave. The vampire turned to look at Jacob, his hand still poised on the doorknob. "I'm really sorry about the way that I reacted a few days back. I was completely out of line. I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate everything that you've done for Bella and for all of us. Really... thank you."

Carlisle's eyebrows lifted and a true smile graced his features. "You're welcome Jacob," he whispered gently before he left the room.

As the door clicked shut softly behind him, Jacob rubbed roughly at his face, trying to rid himself of the last clinging dredges of sleep. He stretched feeling his joints crackle softly and also, a slight tugging in his side. Realizing that this must be where Carlisle had patched his ribs, he gently tugged one end of his hospital gown up and looked at Carlisle's work with slight admiration. Clean white bandages neatly covered his torso, but he no longer felt any pain.

Smiling slightly, he threw on his cutoffs and a tight fitting white t-shirt that had magically appeared on his bedside table while he was asleep. As soon as he was presentable, he made his way down the hallway back to the waiting room. Sam was still sitting in relatively the same spot but he had been joined by Embry. Both of them, remarkably, were fully clothed and Jacob smiled knowing that Emily must be somewhere nearby.

"What room is she in?" Jake questioned as soon as he was close enough to be over heard without shouting.

"Jake..." Sam stood, his face still tight with worry as he appraised the younger man walking towards him. All of the happiness that Jake had allowed to glimmer through after Carlisle's visit was instantly strained. Jake could tell by Sam's body language, by the look in his eyes, that something wasn't right.

"Sam, what happened? Is Bella still alright? What aren't you telling me?" Jake asked frantically while looking desperately from Sam to Embry, willing them to give him answers.

"Jake, calm down. Bella's alright. She just received some... news... from Dr Cullen. She isn't taking it very well. You just need to give her some time before you go in to visit her." Sam replied slowly as if not to agitate him.

"But..." Jacob started to protest, but before he could get any further he was interrupted by Emily leaving a nearby room and closing the door lightly behind her. She walked directly to Sam then began to murmur softly into his ear.

"I've finally gotten her to calm down enough to get some rest." She whispered then nuzzled her face softly into Sam's muscular chest. He held her tightly, kissing her hair and eventually Emily relaxed, releasing her breath in a sigh.

"Jacob," she said, turning around. She wasn't quite able to hide her haggard expression behind her usual pleasant smile fast enough and Jacob tensed even further. "It's good to see you awake and moving. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. What's wrong with Bella?" he asked curtly.

"She's alright. She just needs some time to think about things," Emily told him cautiously while trying to catch his eyes.

Jacob turned hastily away from them and began to walk towards the room that he had just seen Emily leaving.

"She needs time _alone_ Jacob," Sam's voice had a certain finality to it. Jake's shoulders slumped and he stalked slowly back to the plastic waiting room chairs. He dropped clumsily into the open seat beside Embry and bumped the back of his head into the wall behind him in frustration.

"I just don't understand. Carlisle said that she would be fine. I talked to him less than an hour ago. How could things have changed?" he muttered.

"Jake she _will_ be fine. You saved her bro. But it's not the physical aspect that we're worried about right now, it's the psychological. Carlisle gave her some bad news and she'll deal with it, especially with you there to help bring her back. You've done it before man and we all have complete faith in you to do it again." Embry told him, clasping his arm reassuringly. Jake contemplated this for a while and his confidence improved by a small fraction. "Embry what did Carlisle tell her?" he asked finally.

"I'm sorry Jake, but it's really not my place to say," Embry replied with an apologetic look in his eyes.

"Then why can't I go ask her?"Jake asked allowing the irritation to show in his voice.

"Trust me... you really don't want to see her like this." Embry mumbled, then looked away dismissing the subject.

Jake continually tried to steer the conversation back to Carlisle's mysterious 'news'. Unfortunately, all three of his companions remained tight-lipped on the subject and he was instead required to sit through the other's forced small talk, willing time to pass more quickly.

Finally, Jake was given an opportunity. Sam and Emily had left him in search of coffee and after their departure, Embry had hurriedly excused himself at the chance to go out and stretch his legs. Quickly, he made the trek to the ominous doorway to Bella's room and edged the door open to peer at the figure inside.

Bella lay slightly propped up in her hospital bed. Her small frame barely displaced the sheets and hardly moved with each of her shallow breathes. The skin on her arms looked sickly around her healing bruises and the bones in her wrist jutted out sharply as if trying to cut through. Jacob wished that he could see her face in order to afford her body some semblance of life, but her head was turned away from the doorway to stare out a small window, her tangled brown locks forming a curtain that hid her features.

"Bells?" Jake whispered as he stepped carefully into the room allowing the door to slide shut behind him. She gave no response.

"Bella," he tried again, a little louder, as he slipped into a chair that had been pulled up beside her bed. He picked up her hand and held it gently giving her fingers a small squeeze. She didn't squeeze back.

Jacob's heart lurched. It was like talking to a zombie, or worse a dead body. The only indications that his Bella was still alive and there with him were the steady beeping of the heart monitor and the continuous dripping of the IV. He waited, hoping for any sign of acknowledgement of his presence, looking for even the slightest movement, but after a few long moments gave up, leaning back in his chair.

"Bells I'm here, but there's nothing I can do for you if you don't tell me what's wrong. I can't _help_ you if you don't tell me what's going on." Jake stated, rubbing his free hand roughly over his face.

There was a shaky inhalation from the bed followed by a soft raspy voice. "You mean... you don't... know..." Bella gasped, her voice sounded as if her throat had been thoroughly scratched with sand paper and came out in airy sighs. She still hadn't moved.

Gently, Jake took her chin and turned her head to face him. The hollowness in her eyes frightened him and he instantly grasped her hand tighter.

"Jake.. when Edward—" she broke off and tried again, "Carlisle didn't know to check.. I got an infection... Jacob I-I can't have children." Bella managed. Fresh tears began to make their way down the already salt-stained tracks patterning her cheeks.

Jake wiped them away with his thumb and brushed his fingers tenderly over her face, Careful not to catch her oxygen line. "Shh Bella. It'll be alright. There are treatments, you can adopt..."

"Don't you get it?" Bella interrupted him, her voice suddenly stronger in her anger, "none of that matters. You're going to imprint on some other girl; someone who can give you your own kids naturally. I've already lost so much Jake... I can't lose you too—" she broke off in a sob and tried to turn her face away from him again.

"What?" Jacob stammered, confused about where all of this had come from. "Why would I..?"

"You said yourself Jake," Bella continued once she had found her voice again, "a wolf imprints so that he can provide the strongest possible offspring to his pack. Emily and I used to talk while you were gone on patrol... Leah lost Sam because she's a wolf—she can't have kids, at least not while she's still changing. Now I'm going to lose you too." She bit her lip and stared into his eyes, daring him to say anything different.

Comprehension finally dawned on Jacob as he looked into those sad eyes. He shook his head slowly at her causing her to break eye contact with him to stare down at her thread bare sheets. As soon as she looked down though, Jake was quick to contradict her.

"Listen to me Bella, what I feel for you is stronger than any imprint. I know. I'm part of the pack mind remember? You could march a thousand girls through that door and I still would never leave you. Not even if the sun came crashing down and the world was ending." He moved her hand so that it was now placed firmly between the two of his and held it there firmly.

"But Jake..." Bella began to protest.

"Bella look at me." She turned her head back to face him once again and the sincerity in his eyes stopped any further objections on her lips. "I made a promise to you once that I would never hurt you. I'm adding to that now that I will never leave you no matter what happens. _I love you Isabella Swan. I always have, and I always will for the rest of my life, however long that may be._"

Bella gasped, recognizing the words and stared at him in shocked silence. Jacob continued to look at her wearily, rubbing circles absentmindedly on the back of her hand. As he sat, he noticed a new light appearing within Bella. It moved through her skin, softening the pallor as it spread. Eventually it reached her eyes allowing a slight sparkle back into those large chocolate orbs. He had missed that sparkle so much. With a pang, he realized what this new light was: Hope.

"Jake?" She whispered after a long silence. Jake hadn't even noticed that he'd let go of her hand until he felt her delicate finger tips tracing small patterns lightly across the russet skin of his face.

"Hmm?" He found that he was unable to speak quite yet.

"Hold me," was her simple request. Jake responded immediately without a second thought. He climbed slowly into the small hospital bed, carefully sliding an arm and leg underneath her. As soon as he was settled, Bella curled into him, her body fitting perfectly into the smooth planes of his chest. He lightly kissed her hair and pulled her even tighter to him. Bella sighed and her breathing became smooth and even as she drifted off to sleep.

At some point, Sam, Emily, and Embry came into the room and got into the surrounding chairs, making themselves comfortable to spend the night. All was calm and peaceful at last.

That was until Paul came bursting through the doorway, panting with a thick layer of sweat coating his half clothed body. "Sam," he blurted, "I need to talk to you."

Sam didn't move from his spot beside Emily. In fact, he barely even looked up. "Not now Paul. Whatever it is, it can wait until morning." He said dismissively, already closing his eyes to get back to sleep.

"Charlie's dead."

Okay so please don't kill me. I promise this is the last bit of bad news for a while. And things will work out I promise. Also, just for the sake of my story, let's pretend that Bella and Jake's imprint conversation happened in New Moon. I honestly didn't even realize it happened in Eclipse until I saw the movie Tuesday night. Thanks guys!

Review please! Otherwise I won't be so kind on the updates =P


	13. Important Note!

Okay so I know that I'm not technically allowed to do this... Eek! Sorry guys. Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know that this story is going on temporary hiatus. Note the word _temporary_. I promise I'll be back! I already have bits and pieces of a few future chapters written so don't fret. Basically I'll be in Europe until the beginning of September and during that time I'll have very little computer time or access to the internet. Yes, that also means that when I get back school will be starting but I promise I will work extra hard to pop another chapter out as soon as I can. I really wanted to have the next chapter ready for you before I left but it didn't happen. Again I'm really sorry.

Hopefully I can tide you over with answers to a few FAQs about the story:

**Q: How did Bella get an infection from a vampire and how come Carlisle didn't check for it earlier?**

A: Bella didn't get an STI from Edward. She got an infection from the fact that she was crawling around outside with hardly any clothes on and open wounds (which were considerably bad seeing as she had sex with a vampire). Carlisle didn't check for infection on his first visit because Emily decided not to tell him that Bella was raped (see chapter...5?). Because said infection went unchecked for nearly a month wreaking havoc on Bella's system, she can no longer have children due to the amount of the damage to her reproductive organs. Remember, I just finished my first year of Kinesiology, not med school and this is a fan fiction a.k.a. it doesn't have to be completely accurate =).

**Q: Is Jacob going to imprint on someone else now?**

A: Not in the time line of this story. I'm not _that_ mean.

**Q: Where are the other Cullens and how come Rosalie isn't kicking Edward's Ass?**

A: The entire Cullen family (minus Eddie) will enter the scene very shortly. At that time Bella and Rose will have a little heart to heart. You just have to be patient.

**Q: How dare you kill Charlie?**

A: I love Charlie too and I'm sorry... he _will _make an appearance much later in the story (and no, I won't tell you what that means)

So that's it for now. If you have any other questions feel free to review, PM, or email me. If I get it within the next... two days (?) I'll do my best to give you a prompt reply as long as it doesn't give too much of the future plot line away.

Thanks so much for sticking with me!

xoxo


	14. Chapter 13

Hello! I'm back! This chapter is really short and I'm really not a fan of the first half of it, but this was my attempt at getting back into the swing of things before school starts (tomorrow...). The next chapters should be better written and more interesting. Thanks for staying faithful!

Ps.: This chapter (especially the second half) was written after listening to _Breathe Me_ by Sia about a thousand times. Cue the inspiration for creepy Bella.

/\/\/\

Silence dominated the room as everyone sat in a shocked stupor, staring at Paul in the doorway. Sam was the first person to move, first making eye contact with Jacob then getting up to exit the room with Paul and Embry on his heels. Emily rose more slowly, tears brimming in her brown eyes, she looked at Bella's still sleeping form on the hospital bed and, covering her mouth with her hand, hurried out of the room after the others.

After everyone had left, Paul's outburst finally sunk into Jacob's head. "No," He whispered softly, squeezing Bella's unconscious form tighter to his side. He kissed her hair gently then slid out of the bed, careful not to wake the unknowing girl lying beside him. As he exited the room, he saw that a very weary Carlisle had joined the small group outside of the door.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do Paul," Sam was saying, his arms crossed over his chest, as Jacob joined them.

Paul took a few deep breaths before beginning his story. "I know I disobeyed orders when I followed Cullen, but I had to do it Sam. I screwed up before when I blew off watching Bella and I was trying to make it up to you," Paul said making eye contact directly with Jacob on the last part. "I chased his sparkly ass for all I was worth but I lost him somewhere near the Canadian border. I spent a night trying to regain his scent so I could take him down, but it was useless and eventually I just gave up and decided to head back. I didn't know where you guys had taken Bella and when you guys weren't at Sam's or the Blacks' I headed towards the Chief's place over in Forks. I found him in the forest out back."

Jacob bristled at his words, and Carlisle opened his mouth to interrupt, but Paul continued before either of them could interfere. "It wasn't either of them. Not the redheaded bitch or Cullen," Paul spat, "It was a completely new scent. Male. And there was something else weird about it. It smelled almost too human." Paul finished, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, already knowing the answer. Paul nodded. "Then we have even more of a problem than we thought."

"I may have an explanation for the odd scent that Paul described. After a vampire is turned, their veins are still filled with untainted human blood. We call them newborns. Unfortunately, they're extremely dangerous as they essentially can feed off of themselves, drastically increasing their strength. They also have very little control over their bloodlust. The effects of the human blood wear off after about a year." Carlisle explained.

"And you have experience fighting these newborns?" asked Sam.

"My son Jasper fought in a newborn army during the American Civil War. I can ask him to discuss with you a way to take care of this problem, and any other problems that arise in the future. I don't find it at all surprising that with Victoria hunting in the area, she might have become careless with her prey and allowed a few poor souls to change." Carlisle added shaking his head.

"Can I just interrupt for a second?" Embry stammered, "I know that dealing with this newborn threat is important but... Charlie's dead guys. He was Bella's legal guardian here in Forks and she's still underage until the fall. Doesn't that mean she'll have to move to Jacksonville?"

Embry's outburst shut everyone up for a moment while they realized the gravity of the situation.

"She can't go to Florida. Not with those bloodsuckers after her... she'd never survive," Emily muttered, looking at Sam.

"I'm going with her." Jacob stated firmly, looking directly at Sam as well. "You can't stop me Sam. She needs protection and more importantly she needs someone to help her through all of this. I need to be there for her."

"Would everyone please calm down for just a minute? Nobody is going anywhere. I'll adopt Bella, she can stay with me." Sam asserted, once again shocking everyone into silence. He turned to Carlisle. "Is that possible?"

"You'd need the permission of her mother first. But I can pull some strings and all things considered, I should be able to have you granted guardianship." Carlisle mused.

"Renee won't object. She'll do whatever she can to make Bella happy," Jacob whispered.

"I always wanted a little sister," Sam smiled sadly, nodding to Emily. "Do you think we can handle this?"

"Of course, Sam. And we'll always have Jacob there to help us," she added, patting Jacob on the shoulder knowingly.

"Alright then, if the two of you would kindly come with me," Carlisle gestured to the two imprints, "we can start making some calls." Dr Cullen started down the hallway with Sam and Emily following close behind him.

"Jake, I am so sorry man. If there was anything that I could do..." Jacob nodded at Paul in response and watched as the rouge werewolf was lead away by Embry, presumably to be fully updated on the current situation.

Left alone in the sterile hallway, Jacob knew he had to go back inside and tell Bella what had happened. Pushing aside his dread, he took a deep breath and turned the doorknob.

As Jake slipped back into the hospital room, he noticed that Bella had awakened in their absence. She sat in her hospital bed staring fervently at her hands and constantly fidgeting, rubbing and picking at some unseen stain marring her flesh. At the click of the closing door she immediately stopped and looked up, gazing relentlessly into Jacob's eyes.

Jake sighed in relief knowing he at least wouldn't have to be dealing with the lifeless zombie from earlier that day. He paused, collecting his thoughts, deciding upon where he should start this difficult conversation, when suddenly, he heard two nurses chatting outside the door as they walked down the hallway. Their voices were as clear as day.

"How much of that did you hear Bella?" Jacob asked quietly, not knowing what he hoped for in her answer.

"Most of it," Bella replied, her voice flat. She turned back to her hands resting softly on the bed sheets and resumed her determined scrubbing.

Jake winced slightly and moved closer to the bed. He squatted down so that their heads were almost level. He couldn't get her to meet his eyes so instead he rested a hand lightly on her shoulder and asked "So you know about Charlie?"

"Yes," Bella mumbled, still absorbed in her restless movements.

"I know this is going to be hard Bella, but I'm sure that you heard Sam's offer as well," Jake continued slowly.

"Yeah," Bella murmured, never removing her focus from her hands.

Jacob got the sense that she wasn't even really listening to what he was saying. Her concentration was centred solely upon whatever task her mind had created to drown out the reality of the situation. Frustrated, Jacob reached out and clasped her hands, ceasing their movement. "Bella stop it. Look at me and focus on what I'm saying." As he held her small hands within his, he felt that they were slightly damp. Looking at them, he saw that the flesh was angry and chaffed, her skin torn and bleeding lightly where her tiny nails had found purchase. Jake looked quickly away from her inflamed hands and back to her face trying to hide his dawning horror.

Gradually Bella turned her head to look at him. Her face was puzzled, as if she had just truly realized that Jacob was in the room with her. Slowly, a single tear formed in her eye, falling as it grew and finally resting on the side of her nose, where it stayed, glimmering in the harsh hospital lights.

"None of this is real Jacob," She said hauntingly. "It's all just a bad dream."

She stared at him like that for a few more moments, face smooth and emotionless as porcelain. When Jacob didn't move or reply her face crumpled, instantly flushing. "I want to wake up now..." She whispered brokenly. As soon as the words were uttered, her body convulsed with all-consuming, wracking sobs.

"Shh Bella, we'll get through this," Jacob soothed wrapping her protectively in his arms. "I'm going to help you through this..." he smothered his face in her mess of hair, trying to hide his own tears.

"It's all a dream Jake... I want to wake up..." she continued to moan, over and over again in between her cries. She clutched his arms closer to her, curling herself into a small ball on the bed.

"_It's just a dream..."_

"_It can't be real..."_

"_I want to wake up..."_

"_**I WANT TO WAKE UP!"**_

**/\/\/\**

Okay so, I don't remember how old Bella was in the books, but in Canada if you're a high school senior and your birthday is in September, you would be 17 when you graduated. Therefore, for the sake of my story, Bella is still a minor. Also I really have no idea about how the adoption process or transfer of guardianship works... so if what I said makes no sense, just pretend please. It's fiction right?

Review please, and you'll get the next chapter (a.k.a. return of the Cullen family) sooner. Hopefully. =P


	15. Chapter 14

So... I was a little bit disappointed that I only got six reviews on the last chapter, I'm not going to lie. Thank you everyone that is still reading this story, you are the reason that new chapters are still coming out. Hopefully, I can win back some of my old reviewers with a new chapter that is back to it's usual length. Sorry about the delay for getting this one out. Like most of you, I am now back in school and that means papers, papers, and more papers. Hopefully I'll get a little break soon so I can get the next chapter out. Enjoy!

/\/\/\

Bella stirred gently in her sleep, moaning slightly at whatever was plaguing her dreams. Jacob automatically tightened his grasp, pulling her closer to his side. As her gasp became a little louder, Jake whispered reassurances into her ear, ensuring that she knew that he was there and that he wasn't leaving. She calmed almost immediately.

The sun was just beginning to rise outside the small window of their private hospital room. Dim light found its way through the curtains and illuminated the sleeping angel beside him. The worry lines in her forehead were beginning to ease their way out, and her full lips, once scrunched with tension, smoothed into the gentle line they formed in her sleep. Reassured that Bella was finding her way back to a more peaceful slumber, Jake rolled over to try to catch a few more minutes of sleep himself. It was not to be.

"Jake?" Bella slurred, her voice thick with early morning grogginess.

"Yeah Bells?" Jake mumbled in return, reluctant to give up any last hope of a few more minutes of snooze time.

"Good morning," she whispered with the smallest of smiles gracing her lips. Jacob forced a smile in return. He was worried about her. Though she appeared to have made a great improvement psychologically over the last few days, he found it hard to believe. To make matters more complicated, Bella wouldn't talk about what had happened to Charlie. Anytime he was mentioned, she refused to acknowledge it and continued the conversation as if she hadn't heard. Jacob was concerned that she was still somehow trapping herself in the dream world that he had found her in a few days ago, refusing to accept reality no matter how many times she was confronted with it.

Bella's soft skin brushed against Jacob's as she stretched out as much as she could in the cramped hospital bed. She sighed softly and propped herself onto her elbows to try to pull herself into a sitting position. Jacob was just about to help her when the door opened to reveal Sam and Emily, coffee and muffins in hand.

"Good morning sleepy heads," Emily smiled good naturedly and handed Jake a steaming cup of hot chocolate. She gave Bella an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Hun, but you're still stuck with water. I did get permission from Carlisle to give you some solid food though, so I brought you your favourite." Emily winked then pulled a huge white chocolate raspberry muffin out of the bag with a flourish.

Bella's eyes lit up and she reached forward instinctively to grab the delicious treat. Unfortunately in doing so, she had forgotten about her recent injuries. The sudden jolt of pain in her ribs caused her to fall back to the bed with an involuntary squeak.

Jacob bit back a chuckle and helped her into a comfortable sitting position propped up by lots of pillows. "Is a liquid diet really that bad?" he asked with a smirk.

"Just pray that you never have to try it." Bella huffed, but her mood was soon rectified as Emily handed her the pastry. Bella nearly inhaled the first bite and almost started choking in the process, causing everyone in the room to laugh.

The four of them ate in contented silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying the hot beverages and freshly baked goods.

Eventually, Bella interrupted the quiet and began to speak, "Sam... I've been thinking a lot about your offer."

All chewing in the room immediately stopped, and three sets of eyes swivelled to stare at the small girl sitting on the bed. Nobody had mentioned the offer since Bella's breakdown on that fateful day and Jacob had started to wonder if she had really heard it at all.

"I'll accept, but only on one condition," Bella stated. Sam nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"This is going to sound so stupid and I know it doesn't make any sense..." Bella trailed off looking down at the remainder of the muffin in her pale hands. "You can adopt me, but only if you promise to teach me self defence. I know it won't do me any good, at least not against anything that I'm up against right now. I'm just tired of feeling so helpless..." Bella's voice broke towards the end and she bit her lower lip forcefully, trying to stop traitorous tears from escaping her eyes.

"That's not stupid Sweetheart," Sam told her soothingly as he walked to the bed and gently brushed the hair out of her face, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek. "I think it's a great idea," he added when she finally looked back at him.

"So you'll help me then?" she asked, allowing a bit of hope to brighten her face.

"Of course I will Bella, you're family now," Sam smiled at her, "we'll start as soon as you're well enough to learn."

"Thank you," Bella whispered, then surprised everyone by throwing her arms around Sam's shoulders and burying her face in his expansive chest. Sam tensed at first, taken aback by her sudden movements, but quickly relaxed and returned her hug. Jacob rubbed Bella's back soothingly from his position beside her on the bed and Emily walked over to place a comforting hand on her knee. The four of them stayed in that position for a while, simply enjoying their new found sense of family until Bella finally pulled away slowly and erased any remaining tear tracks from her face with the edge of her bed sheet.

"So, what are the plans for today?" she asked lightly, trying to brighten the mood in the room.

"Well, that's actually why we came in so early to see you," Emily started, seating herself on the edge of her bed. "You have some visitors that would really like to see you, but if you don't feel like you can handle seeing them we can ask them to leave."

"Who is it?" Bella asked, completely confused.

"The Cullens," Emily mumbled looking away.

Bella's whole body immediately began to shake. She grasped Jacob's arm so tightly that it actually hurt him and stared at him with wide terrified eyes, begging for help.

"He's not with them," Sam explained gently, taking her free hand in his own, "but you can still refuse to see them if you want to."

Bella took a few deep breathes and forced herself to calm down. When her tremors finally faded into nothingness, she inhaled one last time then looked at Sam and said, "Let them in."

"Are you sure Bella?" Sam asked, unable to hide the surprise on his face. "They were the ones that sent us in to warn you. They'll understand if you don't want to see them right now."

Bella nodded once firmly and set her jaw. "It's okay Sam. I need this. Send them in please."

Sam nodded reluctantly then headed to the door with Emily in tow. Jacob got up to follow them out but Bella caught his hand as he was leaving the bed. He turned around slowly and stared into Bella's fear filled eyes until they nearly broke his heart. "No Jake," she whispered softly. "Stay with me... I can't do this without you."

Jacob touched her cheek lightly with his free hand, smoothing away her worry. "I'd never leave you Bella." Jake whispered then crawled back into the narrow bed, holding her close to his side.

Before the door could fully close behind Sam and Emily, it was swung back open by a luminescent marble arm. Six pale figures made their way sombrely into the room finding positions at various places around the bed. Rosalie and Emmett sat down in nearby chairs huddling close together, their expressions unreadable. Carlisle immediately picked up her chart and checked over her last reported vitals, nodding to himself in approval. Esme stood so close to him she could have been mistaken for his shadow.

But it was the two figures standing at the end of the bed that Bella was most fixated on. Alice's face was a twisted mixture of horror and grief while beside her, Jasper looked even more uncomfortable than usual. After enduring only a few seconds of being in their presence, Alice choked out a tearless sob and sprinted from the room. Jasper attempted to smile at Bella apologetically then raced out after his love.

The silence in the room could be cut with a knife.

"She blames herself," Esme finally said quietly. "She thinks she should have seen what was happening to you and that she could have prevented it."

"But that's ridiculous," Bella interrupted. "She hasn't had a vision since..."

"Since your trip to Volterra," Carlisle cut in. "It seems I was mistaken about the cause of Alice's sudden loss of her abilities." He sighed and perched himself on the edge of a nearby chair. "Upon doing some research and speaking with my remaining contacts in Italy, I discovered that before your trip, Aro had recently acquired his latest trophy: a vampire with the talent to take away the special abilities of other vampires in his presence. It would seem that after Alice and Edward refused to join the Volturi, Aro had their powers removed. I am still unclear upon how long this effect will last. I would assume that it isn't permanent. Aro would never be foolish enough to let such great talent go to waste. It does however, help to explain Edward's sudden change in character after your return."

Jacob began to growl on the bed and Bella could feel it reverberate through her chest.

"I'm sorry Jacob, you've taken my words the wrong way. Please don't think that I am defending Edward's actions. What he did to Bella is completely inexcusable under any circumstances. Which is part of the reason why we came to speak to you today." Carlisle looked Jacob directly in the eyes. "After a very long and hard discussion, we have come to the conclusion that Edward will no longer be considered a part of this Coven. I'll speak more to Sam about this, but Edward is now exempt from all protection that the treaty offered. Furthermore, we believe that we have overstayed our welcome in Forks. Our presence has attracted far too much unsavoury attention and therefore we will be moving on as soon as the funeral has taken place."

Jacob stared at Carlisle in stunned disbelief. What he was hearing was beyond comprehension. He never would have dreamed that the vampires would just leave without putting up a fight. And now they had free reign over dealing with Edward. It was too good to be true.

A soft sniffle beside him brought Jacob back to reality. Bella looked frightened and she was clutching the bed sheet around her with a white knuckled grip.

"It won't be like the last time we left, Bella," Esme was quick to assure her. "We'll keep in contact with you and if you ever need anything at all we're only a phone call away." She rested her hand on Bella's knee just like Emily had earlier and Jacob stiffened slightly at the proximity of the vampire's hand.

"I know it's a lot to take in right now Bella, but please know that we truly think that all of this is for the best." Carlisle stood up from his chair and Esme followed him towards the door. "You should get some rest. I'll be releasing you from the hospital tomorrow in time for the funeral and you'll need your strength." Esme gave Bella a small wave as the two exited the room.

Jacob examined Bella's face for any signs of distress but found none. It was then that he finally noticed the two remaining figures in the room who had remained silent until that point.

Rosalie was giving Emmett a meaningful look, and after a few seconds he seemed to catch on and stood up from the chair beside her.

"I'm gonna miss ya Clutzy." He said as he walked toward Bella's bedside. He ruffled her hair playfully with a slight gleam in his eyes. "Make sure you call. Often," he grunted, then retreated from the room leaving only Rosalie behind with them.

Bella looked at the blonde confusedly and tried to figure out why Rose would possibly want to talk to a girl whom she had shown nothing but disdain for in the past. "Rosalie, I..." Bella began.

"No Bella. It's okay. I know that we started things off on the wrong foot in the past, but I was hoping maybe we could set it right. I know what you're going through," Rosalie dropped her head and crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "When I..." she took a deep shuttering breath and tried again. "Before I became a vampire, my fiancé Royce... he and his friends raped me. They left me for dead on the side of the road. That was when Carlisle found me. I lost everything that night. My purity, my family...my life." Rosalie looked up and made sure to meet Bella's eyes. "Look Bella, I know that I've been nothing but a total bitch to you in the past and I'm really sorry about that. I really want to help you. If you ever need anything at all make sure that I'm the first one you call. No matter what time it is, even if you just want someone to talk to, I'll be there."

Rosalie rose quickly from her chair and made her way to the door before Bella could think of a reply. When she touched the handle, she looked back over her shoulder. "Oh, and if I ever catch that rat bastard that I used to call a brother, believe me, he _will_ regret the day that he was born." Rose added right before she exited the room, the familiar fire replacing the sombre sincerity that had just been present in her eyes.

After the door clicked shut a final time, Jacob and Bella sat together silently, still too stunned by the mornings events to say another word. After a moment Bella turned and asked quietly, "Jake could you do me a favour?"

"Anything," he replied, giving her shoulder a small squeeze.

"I really don't think I can handle anymore visits today..." Bella muttered, then snuggled down under the sheets, nearly hiding her face under the covers.

"Of course honey," Jacob chuckled. He kissed the top of her head and nestled in beside her.

/\/\/\

So there you have it, another chapter. Sorry if the ending seemed a little rushed. I have a huge paper due tomorrow, but I wrote this instead haha. Review please!


	16. Chapter 15

"Time to get up, sleepy head!" Jacob stated cheerily, nudging Bella's shoulder gently.

"Ugh... five more minutes?" Bella groaned, attempting to roll away from him, but failing as she ran into the railing of her small hospital bed.

"Sorry Honey, you have a big day ahead of you and at the rate you've been moving lately it'll take you about five hours to get ready." He barely dodged the pillow that flew at his head. "That's the spirit!" he chuckled, then helped her up into a sitting position. He produced a soft black turtle neck sweater and a black pencil skirt from a bag in the corner of the room. "I hope these are alright," Jacob said gently, "Emily dropped them off this morning."

"They're great Jake. Thank her for me." Bella gave him a small smile and reached for the clothes. Dressing herself was a slow and painful process, but with Jacob's help she managed to get changed with only a few winces.

"It's really happening today, isn't it?" Bella whispered sombrely, scooting towards the end of her bed and trying to transfer herself as carefully as possible into the awaiting wheel chair.

Jacob helped her to get settled comfortably then paused, his hand resting reassuringly on her shoulder. "I know this is really difficult for you Bella. When my mom died I…" he sighed. "Just know that we're all here for you. Sam's picking Renee up from the airport right now. And if you need anything from any of us please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks Jake," she whispered. "I know it it's been hard for you, being cooped up here with me for a week. It'll take me a while to get ready, trying to make myself look somewhat presentable and all," she tried to give him a small reassuring smirk then continued, "go stretch your legs for a bit. I'll still be here when you get back."

Jake hesitated.

"Please Jake, I just need a little time to myself to think about things." Bella whispered, looking away.

Still showing his reluctance, he nodded and left the room.

Bella waited a moment listening to his light footfalls as they slowly retreated down the hall. As the noise faded into silence she turned and with effort slowly wheeled herself into the small bathroom attached to her private room. This was the first time that she had been allowed to look in a mirror since she had been staying at the Uley's and when she glanced up at her reflected image she gasped in horror.

She looked like some sort of monster.

Her hair was a tangled mess flying in all different directions like medusa's snakes. Her eyes were sallow and sunken in, made worse by the dark circles echoing beneath them. Partially healed bruises ghosted across most of her face and neck. Her skin was taught across her cheek bones giving them a sharp, harsh appearance. Never in her life had getting ready seemed so impossible.

Frantically she grabbed the make-up bag that Emily had left for her. Digging through, she managed to find concealer and started to dab on copious amounts. It wasn't helping. She decided to pay extra attention to a particularly dark contusion at the top of her cheek bone but after continually applying more and more make up, it still looked discoloured, and the texture of her skin was starting to look abnormal.

In pure frustration, Bella grabbed hairbrush off of the edge of the sink and hurled it at the mirror, shattering it into a thousand tiny pieces. Now there were hundreds of hideous reflections staring back at her and her hand throbbed where a small shard of glass had bounced off and nicked her.

"Fuck!" she screamed, and collapsed into the sink, her body wracked with sobs.

"Bella?" there was a light tap on the door, with Quil's voice following tentatively behind it, "is everything alright? Jake sent me to come check on you."

Bella merely moaned and buried her head further into her arms.

After a few moments, the door creaked open as Quil stepped inside, and Bella heard a sharp inhalation as he surveyed the damage.

"Bella are you okay?" she could feel his hand hovering just above her shoulder as if he wanted to reach out to her but was hesitant.

She didn't respond, only continued to cry in her own self pity.

Quil stayed there for another few seconds then mumbled, "ummm… I'll go get Jake." As Quil's light footsteps faded from the room Bella cursed under her breath. She couldn't let Jake see her broken like this, not when he had been trying so hard to put her back together.

Hurriedly she wiped the tears from her face along with a lot of the over applied make up. She attempted to clean up the few shards of safety glass that had fallen into the sink. As she caught a glimpse of Jake's shattered reflection hurrying into the room, she was just pulling her hair into some semblance of a messy up-do.

"Bella…" Jacob sighed, a little exasperated, as he took in the situation.

"I had a bit of an accident," Bella replied, looking away and shrugging. "It's not a big deal. I'm fine Jake, really I am."

"Shattered glass is not 'fine' Bells," Jacob said as he grasped the arms of her wheel chair, squatting down to eye level. "Tell me what happened."

Bella huffed, still looking away, but when she turned to look in his eyes she just melted and everything came spilling out.

"Sweetie, everyone knows what you've been through. They're not expecting you to show up today looking like you just walked out of a photo shoot." He smirked a little, trying to lighten the mood. "Besides Bella, you're beautiful. No matter what some bastard does to you that beauty will always shine through."

Bella's lips twitched upward slightly and she leaned forward in her chair taking in Jacob's warmth when-

"Sweetheart!" Renee gushed as she ran into the room throwing her arms around her daughter to pull her into a tight embrace. Jacob silently sidestepped out of the way and moved into the other room as to not interrupt their privacy.

"Mom," Bella winced, huffing the word out as pressure was exerted on her still healing ribs. Realizing what was happening Renee quickly backed up to arms length and scanned her daughter to survey the damage.

"Oh Bella," Renee sighed, "what did he do to you?" She shook her head as her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm fine Mom," Bella was quick to assure her, grasping her hand.

"God Bella, have you looked in a mirror lately?" Jacob scowled from where he was waiting outside. Renee continued, "I can't believe any of this has happened. As soon as the service is over we are packing your things and you're coming to Jacksonville. I always knew only bad things could come from this godforsaken place. But I never imagined this. You're coming with me to get away from this dreary mess, and relax in the safety of the sunshine."

"Mom," Bella interrupted her tirade, "Sam talked to you about this. He's going to become my guardian. I'm staying here."

"You couldn't possibly really want that Bella. Staying here, in this depressing area with people that you hardly know? No, sweetheart. You'll see soon enough. Jacksonville really isn't that bad. You'll be enjoying the beach in no time." Renee smiled, tucking a stray strand of hair behind Bella's ear gently.

Bella shook her head vehemently. "No. No Renee I won't go. This is where I want to be." Her eyes filled with tears for what seemed like the thousandth time in the last few days. Her voice cracked with emotion as she continued. "This place is all I have left of Charlie. I want to be here. You can't take that away from me."

Renee stayed silent a moment, studying her daughters face as a few tears escaped and began their slow trek down her pale sunken cheeks. Finally she sighed, "Isabella if this is really what you want then I can't say no. But the invitation will always be open to you. The second you get tired of being here all you have to do is get onto a plane."

"I know Mom. I promise I'll come visit," Bella whispered looking away.

Sam poked his head into the doorway of the main room and cleared his throat. "I'm really sorry for interrupting, but all of Bella's paperwork is done. We should get going soon if we want to make it back to Forks before the ceremony starts."

"Thank you, Sam," Renee mumbled still looking at her daughter. She stayed there, squatted down looking intensely into Bella's eyes, searching for a shred of doubt or even the slightest bit of hesitation in her decision. Finally she shook her head and stood up, straightening her skirt. "Come on, we wouldn't want to be late," she said, nodding to Jacob.

Jake returned to the bathroom as Renee left and gave Bella's shoulder a slight squeeze. He searched her face making sure she was okay. Bella bit her lip and nodded slightly giving him the assurance that she had been sure of her words. Jake kissed her forehead lightly then stood and grasped her wheelchair handles pushing her through the door and out to what might prove to be the hardest day of her life.

The drive to funeral was quiet, an awkward silence forming in Sam's truck as Renee continued to give him odd looks then groan before turning her gaze back towards the scenery outside of her window. Jacob sat in the back with Bella leaning against him. He kept his arm around her securely and periodically stroked her hair to comfort her, but she only continued to stare blankly ahead, frowning slightly.

As it was a rare sunny day, Charlie's celebration of life ceremony was to be held outdoors in a quaint grassy meadow near La Push. As they neared the area Bella roused herself from her semiconscious state and gawked at the shear number of cars parked along the sides of the road. She turned to Jake with a questioning look in her eyes.

* * *

"He touched a lot of lives Bells," Jake whispered giving her arm a light squeeze.

Sam turned into a small dirt path and apologized to Bella as the truck started to jerk, hitting the ruts in the uneven road. Bella winced slightly when a big bump would jolt her and cause pain in her ribs but otherwise didn't seem to notice as she stared wide eyed at the just visible group of people gathering at the end of the path. Sam pulled into a small parking lot and they got out of the truck, Jake and Sam helping Bella back into her wheel chair. Sam went on ahead looking for Emily and the pack as Jacob pushed her along the path. Renee walked sullenly behind.

"Jake," Bella whispered, looking behind her, "I don't think I can do this. Seeing all of these people… they'll ask so many questions. I don't think I can handle it."

"Shhh…" Jacob soothed, "it'll be okay Bells, I'm right here with you."

"Bella!" a voice hailed from somewhere ahead of them. Bella turned and saw Angela running towards them, a look of sorrow plainly evident on her face.

When she reached them, she squatted to Bella's height and gave her a quick hug, breathing hard. When she pulled back, she had a few tears streaking down her cheeks.

"Bella I am so sorry," she cried, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"Wha-?" Bella started, completely puzzled.

"I saw all of the signs. The bruises, the baggy clothes, the way you started pulling away from everyone… I just couldn't believe it was true. I couldn't believe that some one could be that horrible. I couldn't believe that he was hurting you." The tears were coming faster now. "Bella I can't tell you how sorry I am that I never stepped in and did anything about it. I was your friend and I just let all of this happen."

"Oh Angela, this isn't your fault," Bella soothed grasping her friends hand. "There was nothing you could do."

"Yes there was! I could have helped! I could have helped and told the police and you would have been safe from him. But instead I told myself that bad things like that only happen on TV and I was just imagining things. And now look at how things are. I could have helped you Bella. " Angela was now sobbing, hysterical.

Bella just held her friend shaking her head and mumbling "There was nothing you could do…"

Jacob knelt beside Angela and gently placed a hand on her shaking back. "Angela," he asked softly, "how did you know it was Edward that attacked Bella?"

"I d-don't know. It was just a hunch. And there are r-rumours…" Angela stammered between hiccupping breaths.

Jake nodded his head grimly. "Listen Angela, nobody else can know about what happened okay? It's dangerous. I need you to keep spreading the rumour that Bella was attacked by a stranger while we were camping okay?"

Angela pressed her lips together firmly and nodded her head. "I'll do anything that I can to help. I haven't been a very good friend lately. Bella would it be okay if I came over to spend some time with you once things have settled down? I heard that you'll be staying in La Push. I want to do anything that I can to be there for you."

Bella nodded her head, overwhelmed by her friend's show of support. "Thank you Angela. I'll call you."

Angela gave her a small smile then hurried off to go sit by Ben before the proceedings started.

Bella took a deep breath then nodded to Jacob to continue down the path. The meadow had been filled with folding chairs, the majority of which were now filled with people, some of which Bella recognized from either Forks or La Push and some which she was sure he had never met in her life. In front of the chairs, a pulpit had been erected beside a simple wooden urn surrounded by flowers. Tears sprang to Bella's eyes and her hands flew to her mouth to cover her sob. Jacob continued to wheel her to the front of the crowd where an open spot and an empty chair waited beside Billy's wheel chair.

"Bella," Billy whispered as she was settled into her place, Jake taking the seat beside her. Grief was etched deeply into the lines of his face. He took her hand and she felt his warm worn skin envelop hers in a tremendous sense of comfort.

Jacob quickly moved his chair closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist protectively, grasping her other hand with his free hand. Squeezing Billy's hand for support, Bella leaned into Jacob and just cried, her mind fixed on that urn and all that it held. She melted into their embrace as the ceremony began.

* * *

There you go. No promises for when the next chapter will be out. Just rest assured that I haven't abandoned this story. Review please!


	17. Chapter 16

Happy Holidays everyone!

* * *

A minister dressed in a dark suit made his way to the pulpit, his head down. Silence swept the crowd as everyone turned to the front bowing their heads in respect. Jacob held Bella even closer and she felt a large hand squeeze her shoulder from behind. Turning her head slightly, she saw Sam sitting on the edge of his chair reaching out to her. Emily occupied his other arm as she nuzzled close to him crying softly. The rest of the pack was gathered around them, their faces ranging in expression from sorrow to determination and resolve. Bella gave them a tearful smile of thanks for their support then turned back to the ceremony as the minister began to speak.

As he spoke, Bella thought back to all of the summers she had spent with Charlie as a child and a genuine smile began to grace her trembling lips. Jacob look as her questioningly, but she just shook her head as she looked to the cloudless sky above the tree line. A flock of birds flew past the sun and a warm wind circled her, seeming to embrace her body in comfort.

Looking back to the display at the head of the meadow, Bella found that there were now many people coming to the podium to express their gratitude to her father and relate stories of their encounters with the Forks police chief. A young couple spoke of a time in which their car had broken down just outside of town during a horrific storm a few years ago, when Charlie had not only stopped to help them, but also offered his own house as a place for the couple to warm up and rest while their car was fixed. They were so moved by his hospitality that they had chosen Forks as their new home and moved to town shortly after. A deputy related the time that Charlie had used the cruisers sirens and drove well over the speed limit just so that his subordinate could get to the hospital in time to watch the birth of his first child.

As people continued to come forward and speak, Bella was simply astounded by the number of lives her father had touched. When it was time for her turn to come forward Bella felt herself bracing her arms against the sides of her chair, struggling to stand.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked, looking at her, concerned.

"What does it look like?" Bella replied with a small smirk that quickly turned to a wince as her injured leg made contact with the ground.

"Bella you can't." Jacob said hurriedly, "You aren't ready to walk yet-"

"Jacob." Bella interrupted. "I'm doing this for Charlie. For his memory. Please," she pleaded.

Jacob pursed his lips and frowned at her, but stood nonetheless, bending to support her with out causing her too much pain. Sam was instantly on her other side adding his strength to the group. Together the trio made the short trek to the podium, Bella's feet barely touching the ground as she was nearly carried by the two men that were now most important in her life. But she didn't care, she was making an effort to show her strength, and to show that she could get past this, and that was what Charlie would have wanted.

As they reached their destination, Bella let go of the two men and braced her arms against the wood of the pulpit. Jacob and Sam stepped back to give her some space, but continued to hover just behind her protectively. She scanned the sea of faces that were watching her so intently, then nodded her head respectfully and began.

"Charlie was so much more than a police chief, " she stated. The warm breeze was back, lifting small wisps of her hair and curling around her limbs encouragingly. "He was more than a friendly face, or a fishing buddy. He was my dad. And he was quite honestly the best father that I could ever ask for." Bella's arms began to tremble under her weight, but she stood firm, holding her head high. "I know that I drove him crazy, and I was probably a lot more than he bargained for when he offered to take in his teenage daughter almost two years ago," she added with a small smirk, and heard a few members of the audience chuckle softly, "but he was there for me from day one. And even when I was in my darkest hour, he was by my side ready to help me in any way that he possibly could. I just wish that I could have shown him more appreciation for it." Bella paused to gather her thoughts as a few tears fell from her eyes. She felt Jacob step forward to rub her back soothingly. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I am so grateful that I was able to come here today to hear all of your stories about my father. I always knew that he was an amazing man, but until now, I always thought that way in the sense that he was devoted and caring to his family and friends. Hearing these stories and realizing how selfless and helpful he was to total strangers makes me even more proud to say that Charlie was my dad and he lived his life the way he wanted to, as a pillar of strength to his community." Bella's shaking arms could barely hold her up any longer so Jacob subtly shifted to hold her up. Her voice began to break and the tears flowed faster as she continued. "This will probably be the hardest day of my life. By no means am I ready to say g-goodbye to you Charlie. You were taken from me- from all of us- far too soon. But I swear to you dad I won't b-break again. I'll stay strong just like you w-would have wanted. To me you will always b-b-be the loving father who could fix any hurt, and with a heart so big you had to wear it on your sleeve. I… god… I'll miss you so much. I love you Daddy, and I'll never forget." She slumped back from the podium, her body heaving with sobs. Jacob's arms enveloped her in a fierce hug and she felt a few warm tears from his face mixing with her own.

Sam briefly hugged her as well and the three of them made the slow journey back to their seats. When they arrived however, Bella refused to sit down as the ceremony was almost over and she wanted to give Charlie a last salute. She saw Billy looking at her with an expression of intense pride in his eyes and reached to hold his hand squeezing it tightly.

As the formal ceremony came to a close, the rest of the congregation rose and began to journey away from the meadow through the trees. Bella watched as Paul took Billy to the front and Jared offered him the urn before they followed everyone down the path. Bella looked to Jacob and Sam curiously, but continued along slowly with them in silence.

After a short hike they emerged into another small clearing and Bella could hear the rush of flowing water hitting the shore. As the got closer Bella could make out a traditional tribal canoe tethered to the shore of the Quillayute River. In it sat Billy who had arrived ahead of them as well as some of the tribal elders. Billy still clutched the urn fiercely to his chest, his face once again lined with grief.

"They're going to spread his ashes in his favorite fishing spot," Jacob explained to her quietly.

Bella nodded, smiling sadly. "It's what he would have wanted."

The sun was just beginning to set, painting the sky in swirling shades of pinks, oranges and purples. Jake and Sam moved her forward so that they were close to the canoe, their feet nearly in the water. Angela sidled up to them and handed each a lit candle. Tribal voices rang out as the Quileutes in the crowd sang a song of final farewell. Quil knelt to untie the canoe from the shore and it lazily began to drift down the river. As it left everyone in attendance placed their candles in the river and watched the small flickering lights follow the canoe to light the way. Slowly people began to leave, as the singing quieted, but the pack remained. As the canoe and the lights began to vanish into the horizon Bella felt a final gust of the warm wind caress her cheek and then disappear. Blinking back a few final tears she turned to Jacob and nodded once. Each member of the pack came to embrace her tightly one by one, before beginning their slow walk back to the meadow.

When they reached Sam's awaiting truck Bella caught a glimpse of pale skin waiting just down the road. She looked to Jacob who frowned and nodded grimly, then looked back in time to see the Cullen family approaching them.

After a brief hug from each member, Carlisle held her at arms length and gave her a small smile. "I'm afraid this is goodbye Bella," He said gently, searching her face.

"Remember, we're little more than a phone call away if you need anything dear" Esme said as she stroked Bella's hair affectionately.

"Bella, I… I'm so sorry," came the soft voice of Alice from the back of the group, her head bowed and her eyes hidden behind her dark hair in shame.

"It's okay Alice, it really wasn't your fault," Bella assured managing a small smile for her friend.

Alice looked like she wanted to argue, but bit back her reply and nodded grimly. The family said their goodbyes once again and turned to leave, Rosalie staying just a moment longer to catch Bella's eye with a look of reassurance.

"Goodbye," Bella whispered as all six figures vanished into the darkness. Jacob squeezed her shoulder comfortingly then helped load her back into the truck as the Sam packed her wheelchair and Renee climbed back into the front seat.

They had barely left the shoulder of the road when Bella fell asleep, snuggled into the warmth of Jacob's shoulder. She felt someone wrap a blanket softly around her body and then her mind had wandered off into sweet oblivion.

She vaguely remembered stopping at Forks airport and Renee kissing her on the forehead and telling her to call soon, but by the time that her thoughts had once again reached coherency they were already back in La Push. Bella could feel that someone was gently carrying her out of the car, still wrapped tightly in the blanket, and up the porch steps, and then the familiar smell of Emily's kitchen was flooding her nose.

Bella's eyelids fluttered open and she looked around until she found Jacob's face above her. "Jake wha-?" Bella whispered blearily.

"Shh sweetheart it's okay, just go back to sleep. It's been a rough day." He whispered tenderly, kissing her forehead lightly. Her eyelids fluttered closed again for a moment and when she opened her eyes again, Jacob was gently placing her on the bed in the guest room. Bella saw that there were boxes piled around the bed and she propped herself onto her elbows to look around.

"Jake what is all this?" Bella questioned, still quite sleepy.

"It's okay Bella, everything can wait until morning," Jake reassured once again and Bella felt that she was simply too tired to argue. She felt Jacob gingerly peel off her sweater and her skirt before replacing them with heavenly soft pajamas. He released her hair from its updo and massaged her scalp soothingly.

"Go back to sleep baby," Jacob whispered, and as Bella's brain finally complied, she felt him join her, tucking them snuggly under the covers and curling into each other as they drifted off.

* * *

I hope the funeral scene was adequate to please you all, I had a bit of trouble getting what was in my head into words. More reviews please!


	18. Chapter 17

_I know you want to stay in bed_

_But it's light outside, it's light outside_

_So know I'm gonna stay right here_

_Because you saved my life once, you saved my life_

_And I try to get you up 'cause it's beautiful outside_

_And we'll fall, but we'll try_

_To do our best and I'll love you all the while_

_Because you saved my life once…_

_xxx_

He watched as his angel's eyes slowly fluttered open and blinked blearily. "Morning," he whispered, pulling her small body closer into his broad chest. The sides of her lips curled upward into a tiny smile that was soon swallowed by an enormous yawn.

"God Jake, what time is it?" she slurred, straining her neck to try to peak over his shoulder at the clock.

"Much earlier than you've managed to get up in the last month," he replied with a slight chuckle.

"Ugh," Bella groaned and attempted to hide her face under the pillow.

Jacob only laughed and sprung cheerfully out of bed, grabbing the curtains and parting them in one quick whoosh. "Come on Bells, you have to get up and see this."

She groaned again, but managed to flop upwards into a sitting position, her hair falling in a tangled mess over her face as she swayed drowsily. When the sleep finally cleared from her vision, she gasped at the view ahead of her.

The sky was a blaze of pinks and oranges swirling with the morning mist. The sun rising above the line of the trees created a picture perfect moment that she wanted to bask in forever.

"It's beautiful," Bella whispered as a slow smile graced her face.

"Almost as amazing as you," Jake replied. She looked radiant with the sunrise glowing off of her cheeks. He leaned onto the bed and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Today's going to be a good day," he interjected, pulling away before she could say anything.

"Is it?" she smirked, trying not to be too skeptical.

"Mmhmm. So get up lazy bones. We've got places to go, people to see, Quil and Embry to annoy…" he waggled his eyebrows at her and she couldn't help but laugh.

"I still can't say that I'm convinced. I mean these blankets are awfully comfy and I'd hate to leave them to get cold…" Bella raised her eyebrow and bit her lip teasingly.

"Well then I'll just have to make things a little less comfortable won't I?" Jake asked. He quickly began to tickle her sides lightly and Bella fell back on the bed giggling uncontrollably.

Grabbing at his hands she tried to stop him and when she opened her eyes she found his lips only inches away. His warm breath caressed her cheek, both of them breathing heavily. He starred into her entrancing eyes for a moment before slowly beginning to lean in-

Bella turned her head away quickly, her cheeks flushing as she tried to hide her embarrassment at her inability to let him take that step.

"Well," Jacob said after an awkward pause, finally pulling away from the bed slowly, "we should probably get ready soon. The guys won't be happy if they have to wait too long-"

"I'm sorry Jacob. I-" Bella stammered as tears began to rush to her eyes.

"Shh. Don't Bella. It's okay, I understand." Jacob assured her, touching her cheek lightly. He turned to the closet and began to toss clothes onto the bed beside her. "Since the sun actually decided to shine for once we're spending the day out on First Beach. The whole pack will be there. I think the elders will join us tonight for a bonfire if the weather holds up."

Bella worried her lip for a moment longer, searching Jacob's eyes for an indication that he held any resentment from her pulling away. Finding none she managed a small smile, "Sounds perfect."

Jacob's responding grin could have lit up a room. "Good," He helped her up off the bed and the two of them got dressed in companionate silence.

_xxx_

As Jacob maneuvered the Rabbit into a parking space on First Beach a loud thud startled Bella out of her reverie. She heard Jacob curse as he threw off his seat belt and jumped out of the small car. Bella gripped the dashboard and leaned forward to see what they had hit. Quil rolled out from under the hood and played dead a few feet away from the front of the car. Jacob walked over and nudged him in the ribs with his foot, rolling his eyes.

"You know one of these days I'm actually going to run you over and then you'll be sorry." Jake grumbled pulling Quil to his feet.

"No I won't. I'll be dead and laughing because I get to haunt your ass for the rest of eternity," Quil chuckled, brushing some of the dirt off of his jeans. "How're you doin' man?" The two men grasped hands and patted each others' backs.

Jake just shook his head, but he was smiling which made Bella laugh quietly from her seat.

The door beside her opened and she found herself looking up at a very shirtless Embry Call. He poked his head into the car beside her, searching the back seat. "Where are your crutches Gimp-erella?"

"I'll be back to wearing two shoes in no time and you'll be sorry you ever came up with that nickname," Bella warned him. "I'm finally off the crutches but a lovely walking stick should do nicely. Where's your shirt?" She questioned him, wrinkling her nose.

"It's the beach, _mom_. Besides, I'm sure you won't be complaining once Jacob joins the bare-chest club." Embry winked at her then quickly dodged out of the way of the swat aimed at his abdomen.

Jacob hoisted Bella out of the car then handed her a sturdy stick he had scavenged from the side of the road. Wrapping an arm supportively around her waist the two of them began their slow trek towards the beach, watching Quil and Embry stumbling ahead of them, shoving each other the whole way.

"Bells!" Emily waved from where she was sitting on a log around a small fire with Sam, Paul, Rachel, Jared, and Kim. A warm smile lit her face as she motioned them over to join the small gathering.

"It's great to see you feeling better Bella," Jared smiled, hugging Kim closely to his side.

"You look great," Kim added, smiling brightly at her.

"But in our hearts she'll always be Gimp-er-OW!" Embry winced, rubbing his side and feigning hurt as Bella thwacked him with her walking stick. "Geez Bells," he grumbled, leaning to the side pretending to stretch out. Without warning he snatched the stick away from her and sprinted off down the beach.

Jacob quickly lifted Bella onto his back piggy-back style and raced after him, easily gaining distance. Jake had almost gotten close enough to grasp the back of his t-shirt when Embry cut to the side suddenly around a large piece of driftwood. Trying to maneuver just as fast, Jacob ended up slipping and skidding to the ground, trying to cushion the fall as much as possible. He quickly rolled out from under Bella and seeing her lying face down in the sand shaking he reached to brush her hair out of the way. "Shit Bella, I'm so sorry…" As he managed to get a good look at her face he realized that her body was wracked with uncontrollable laughter, tear streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm … okay…" She managed between gasps for air.

"Are you sure honey? Your injuries haven't fully healed yet. That was so stupid of me," Jacob muttered, trying to check her over.

"Honestly Jake I'm fine," She assured him when she managed to get control of herself. "My ribs hurt more from laughing than from the actual fall." Jacob still looked concerned and Bella bit back a smile as she brushed off a tiny seashell that had become imprinted in his cheek. Finally a smile cracked its way onto his face and they began to laugh quietly together.

"We'll get him back," Jake whispered glancing at Embry standing just out of reach, the stick still in his hand. Bella grinned and gladly accepted the hand Jacob offered to help her up. They made their way back to the gathering around the fire. On their way, Bella noticed Quil making sand castles with Claire and Leah sun tanning a few feet away from everyone else as Seth made his way onto the beach. The whole pack was gathered to enjoy a day in the sun.

Bella sat on the log beside Emily who ruffled her hair affectionately. "That was quite the tumble you two took." Jacob blushed and ducked his head as he sat down as well.

"Really, I'm fine," Bella assured everyone grabbing one of Jacob's hands and holding it tightly in her lap.

"Heads Up!" Seth called as a football sailed into their gathering. Jacob snatched it out of the air one handed and turned to wink at Bella cockily.

She giggled and pushed his shoulder playfully. "Go, have your boy time."

He kissed the side of her head quickly and ran off down the beach to go play catch with Embry, Seth, and Paul who got up to join them.

"No one's on patrol?" Bella questioned after she watched him go.

Sam explained that things had been quiet in the month since the Cullen's had left town. Though they were still searching, they had yet to pick up the scent of the unknown vampire again and nobody had smelled Victoria in just as long. Sam had decided not to take the down time for granted and though one pack member disappeared every couple of hours to quickly run the border, the main mission of the day was to relax and have some fun.

Emily updated Bella on everything that was going on in La Push and then gave her details on everything that was being served at the bonfire that night which practically made the Sam and Jared's mouths water. When she was done, Jared started telling the latest funny stories from the pack and before they knew it evening was beginning to set in.

The boys took a break from their games in order to grab a quick drink and Jake caught Bella's eye from over by the cooler. She shot him a quizzical look but he simply held his finger to his lips and comically crept forward on his tiptoes hiding something behind his back. When he got behind Embry who was bent over to tie his shoe Bella had to slap a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. From behind his back Jake produced Claire's sand bucket filled to the brim with ice water. He began to empty the bucket in a slow stream down Embry's spine and the look of utter terror frozen on Embry's face sent everyone into fresh peels of laughter. When the bucket was empty Embry shook himself like a wet dog and muttered, "I guess I deserved that," his voice an octave higher than usual.

Jacob ran over and pulled Bella up into his arms. "Got him," he whispered in her ear.

Everyone else got up and walked down the beach to where the elders were just arriving with the food. The boys immediately pounced, gathering everything that would fit onto their paper plates. Emily chuckled and shoved them away good-naturedly. "Ladies first," she grinned. The boys put up a front of groaning, but obediently lined up behind the women.

"Billy!" Bella called after she filled her plate. She hobbled over to Jacob's father and hugged him tightly.

"You're looking well Bella," Billy said as he pulled back to caress her face affectionately.

"I have your son to thank for that," Bella smiled.

"Charlie would be happy to see you like this," Billy assured her and tears sprang to both of their eyes.

"Dad!" Jake called as he ran up to meet them. Looking at both of their faces he took a step towards Bella. "Is everything alright?" he questioned in concern.

"Everything's great," Bella convinced him, smiling for his sake. Together the three of them made their way back to the fire.

While everyone had been getting their food, Paul had managed to coax their small blaze into a raging bonfire. The boy's had wrangled together a variety of folding chairs and arranged them at the head of the circle for the elders to sit. The remainder of the people that had gathered from the Res congregated around them, with the pack and their imprints sitting closest to the elders on an assortment of drift wood logs.

When everyone had settled Sue began the gathering by saying a small prayer in thanks for the food they were eating and the company in their midst. She then continued by relating all the news and announcements that the elders had for the people of La Push. With all of the formalities out of the way, Billy took over to share some of the legends of the Quileute with the younger generation.

He began to tell the story of a great tribesman named Taha Aki and someone known only as the Thirdwife. Bella tried to pay attention, but as the sun went down she found herself snuggling her back deeper into the warmth of Jacob's chest and blinking her eyes sleepily…

"Bella honey, it's almost time to go," Jacob whispered into her thoughts what felt like an instant later.

"Holy crap! You can't be serious! This is going to be fricken awesome," she heard Embry's shout in the distance followed by Paul's cackle.

"Wha-?" Bella rubbed her eyes and looked around confused. They were the only ones still left by the fire. The elders were milling towards their cars and a group of boys from the pack gathered around a box in the sand while the girls stood back with scared looks on their faces.

"You fell asleep sweetheart," Jake mumbled against her hair, holding her close with her head still resting on his shoulder.

Shrieks echoed up the beach along with pounding footsteps and the smell of burning sulfur. After a short whistle, red and gold sparks exploded across the night sky. This was followed by cheers and little Claire's cries of "More, more!"

The boy's quickly ran back to the box to give her what she asked for.

Bella smiled and turned to look into Jacob's deep chocolate eyes. "Thank you," her whisper was barely audible over the booms and crashes coming from the sky.

"For what honey?" Jacob asked softly, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"For showing me what it's like to live," She sighed. Leaning forward slowly, her soft breath caressed his face. She closed her eyes and placed a gentle but sensual kiss on his mouth as his hand travelled down to cradle her neck.

Her smile widened as she realized that she could still see fireworks even with her eyes closed.

_xxx_

_I think I always knew you would be the greatest_

_The greatest_

_Xxx_

That's all for now folks. The italicized song lyrics are from _Light Outside_ by Wakey!Wakey!. Sorry it took me so insanely long to update but I was feeling a little uninspired by the decreased number of reviews I had been getting. Thank you so much to everyone who has stayed loyal to this story and for those of you who are new welcome!

I thought that you guys deserved a fluffy little break from all the angst in this story. For anyone who thinks that I've just forgotten about Charlie's death I definitely haven't but this chapter takes place a month after the funeral and Bella has started to move on. Don't worry she hasn't forgotten and she will do some mourning in the future. Review Please!


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